


The list goes on

by spitfire123



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Gay Severa, Gay Takumi, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pansexual Inigo, Slow Burn, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, all awakening kids from fates are referred to by awakening names, bisexual leo, i only put the relationships im sure are endgame, might add other relationships to the list later, might change the rating later on, side pairings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-02
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:56:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 25,959
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12888333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spitfire123/pseuds/spitfire123
Summary: Takumi absolutely hated his roommate. He was rude and detached and mean-spirited. Too bad there's no other rooms available, so it looks like Takumi will have to just deal with it.(Alt title: local idiot helps others cope with their problems while not coping with his problems, or his roommate)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> uh, it's been a long time since i wrote anything, so sorry in advance. Please let me know if anything looks or sounds wrong.
> 
> kudos and comments are always appreciated!

It was almost a perfect move-in day. The sun was bright, the weather was warm, Takumi slept amazingly the night before. Perfect.

Mikoto had dropped him and Kamui off at the same building with identical, hysterically large suitcases for each. They had both looked at each other excitedly as they entered the dorm building, suitcases in tow, before they immediately deflated in front of the RA’s handing out keys. They each got keys with different room numbers, and it looks like they weren’t rooming together. Unfortunate really. They’d been hoping to share a dorm like last year.

It was fortunate they were on the same floor, but unfortunate because that floor happened to be the top floor in a building with no elevator. Takumi was more than a little mad once he finally lugged the suitcase to the top of the stairs.

“Come on Kamui.” Takumi huffed out, panting in half in exertion and half in frustration. Three flights of stairs was way too much in a building with no elevator. “I believe in you man. You can make it.”

“Go on without me Takumi.” Kamui jokingly called from somewhere below Takumi. “Live on in my memory, brother, don’t forget my sacrifice.” Kamui made a sound like a dying bird. Takumi couldn’t help but laugh wholeheartedly.

“I’m going to go check out my room.” Takumi called over his shoulder, and, after hearing what sounded like a huffed agreement from Kamui, Takumi exited the stairwell onto the floor. He glanced at the number on his key (number 305), and then at the first door in front of him.

301 was plastered on a gold plate on the door, and a solitary paper sword with the name ‘Lucina’ was taped to the door. From the looks of it, Takumi thought she might be the RA of the floor.

The door next to Lucina’s, number 303 had two paper name tags on it, a small computer with the name “Owain” and a dancer with the name “Inigo” on it.

302 across the hall had “Hinata” and “Oboro” written on a sword and a sewing needle respectively, and taped to the door. Takumi smiled, beforing moving towards his own door. He’d come back and say hi once he was done unpacking.

On the door was a small picture of a bow with his name on it, and a small book with his roommate’s name.

“Leo.” He spoke aloud to himself, wondering what kind of person this Leo fellow might be.

* * *

  
Unpacking was a challenge, but mostly painless compared to the stairs incident. His room was small, but not too cramped. Each bed was raised above a desk, pushed to each side of the room, and a large window let in a decent amount of sunlight. There was a small fridge on the left side, and a sink and mirror on the right. Takumi decided to take the left side. It seemed like the lighter side to take.

Once it was over and done with, Takumi popped out of his room before coming face to chest with a taller man. Blond, Takumi noted before the other pushed him away slightly.

“Watch where you’re going.” The blond scoffed, and Takumi stepped away quickly, looking up at the taller man. He was met with an icy glare.

“What the hell is up your ass?” He asked quickly, his neutral expression turning into a scowl at the presence of such rude company.

The blond said no more, ignoring Takumi completely in favor of dragging his suitcase into the room Takumi had just been in and - oh. Oh no. Takumi panicked as he watched the other man walk into his room and close the door behind him, and that could only mean one thing.

That man was Leo. That rude asshole was his roommate for the entire semester, maybe even longer.

‘So, I guess that’s what kind of person Leo is’ Takumi thought unhappily as he headed towards Oboro and Hinata’s shared room.

* * *

  
“I just- ugh, I can’t believe my roommate acts like that to people he just met!” Takumi groaned, sitting on Oboro’s desk chair while the other sat on her bed above him. “Like, why me? Why couldn’t I just room with Kamui? This is so dumb.” His whine intensified as he looked up at Oboro. She just kept on knitting.

“I don’t know what to tell you my dude.” She shrugged. “You could ask the RA for a transfer. Or you could just stick it out and see. But I have to agree with you, he does sound like a dick.”

There was a loud noise from outside the room, and both Takumi and Oboro jumped suddenly.

“Hey hey, it’s my two favorite people in this world!” Hinata grinned from the doorway with his suitcase in tow. Takumi smiled standing to give Hinata a hug.

“Hey yourself, you big nerd. What took you so long to get here?” Oboro piped up, climbing down from the bunk to join in on the hug, squishing Takumi between his two taller friends.

“Oh, you know..” Hinata trailed off.

“I don’t.”

“Um, there was this really pretty girl outside.” Hinata ground out, and both Oboro and Takumi laughed.

“So, Hinata.” Takumi started, breaking up the group hug just to see Hinata’s face. “Your voice sounds deeper. Anything you wanna tell us?” Hinata looked shocked for a moment before breaking out in a shit-eating grin.

“Takumi, my friend, I am SO glad you noticed, because, dude, this new round of T doses feels better than anything I’ve ever felt before!” Hinata flexed for good measure. “And I do have to say, my dear Oboro, that you are looking positively stunning today.”

“Oh shut up you weeb!” Oboro laughed, punching Hinata in the arm lightly.

“Although,” Takumi started, looking puzzled. “How did you two end up in a room together?” Hinata and Oboro looked at each other and both started giggling. Takumi frowned. “For real though, how?”

Oboro was the first to speak up. “I guess it’s because we’re both trans.”

“And they didn’t really know where to put us. So they just put us together.” Hinata finished her thought, both smiling gleefully.

Takumi laughed and brought them back into a group hug. “I’m so happy you guys are here.”

* * *

  
It was a couple hours of video games with the crew before Takumi decided to return to his room to see if his roommate wanted to apologize for being a dick, or, at the very least, engage in some sort of civil conversation.

He didn’t. He introduced himself as Leo, but that’s really all he said to Takumi. Any other questions Takumi asked, Leo would ignore in favor of his book.

And now it was late, or late for Takumi at least. He was an early bird, went to bed early. So when the RA came and knocked on the door to announce an introductions meeting in the common room at 9, Takumi inwardly groaned. That was already past his bedtime, and now he had to socialize past his bedtime? Blasphemy.

So here he was, sitting in the common room with a bunch of other people and Leo. Sitting next to Leo no less.

Takumi was tired and really, really didn’t want to be here. But his RA had insisted on him being there for the ‘get to know you’ meeting, and Takumi didn’t want to start the year by pissing off his RA. Considering he’d already somehow pissed off his roommate, Takumi didn’t really want to start the semester off on anyone else’s bad side.

Said RA cleared her throat as she stood, adopting an open pose and a casual smile. “Hi everyone!” Takumi thought she was way too chipper for this audience. “I’d like to thank you all for showing up to my first floor meeting.” She blinked quickly, the smile never leaving her lips, but her eyes hardening. “If you all will just give me one more minute, I’ve got to go grab someone out of their room.” She turned on her heel before one of the other students perked up suddenly.

“Lucina,” Takumi glanced at the man speaking, catching his gaze on the man’s silver hair and worried disposition. “You should really just leave him alone, you know how he gets when he’s in the middle of something.”

“He shouldn’t have started a game of goddamn Starcraft when he knew I had a meeting scheduled, Inigo.” She huffed, glancing down the hall at the door that Takumi assumed was this mysterious Starcraft-playing person’s door. “He’s got to start respecting me.”

“Lucina, you know he respects you.” Another girl spoke up, and Takumi cautiously leaned over to Leo.

“Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” Takumi whispered, glancing around the room once more. Leo grunted in a half-hearted shrug and glared down at the other. Takumi kept the gaze for a second, and when the intense scowl from his roommate was starting to become uncomfortable, he turned away, tuning back into the conversation between what seemed to be several of his floormates.

A girl with red pigtails scoffed, “I do not have the time or energy to listen to another sibling squabble.” She looked exhausted, with dark bags under her eyes, and, as if to prove Takumi’s thoughts correct, she let out a big yawn.

There was commotion down the hall, and half of the room groaned in aggravation. Takumi assumed this was the sibling squabble he had just heard about. He was about to say something else to Leo before his RA burst back into the common room, dragging a smaller, blue haired boy behind her by the collar. He looked extremely upset and Lucina plopped him down in an open chair next to her.

“Now that we have everybody,” She started again, hands clasping together in front of her as she stood at the head of the table. The blinding smile from before returned. “We can properly start introductions. I’ll go first and then you each can follow suit with your name and an interesting fact! My name is Lucina, and I’ll be your RA this year, and my interesting fact is that I’m currently training to tryout for the Ylissian fencing team for the Olympics next year.” Alright, Takumi had to admit that was pretty awesome.

With a pointed look from Lucina, the smaller, blue-haired Starcraft player tried, and failed, to look a little less miserable as he introduced himself. “I’m Morgan,” He started, looking extremely displeased as he kept his eyes on the table. “My cool fact is that I’m a Grandmaster Starcraft player. For those of you that don’t know, Grandmaster is the highest rank you can get in Starcraft.” Takumi saw him point a glare at his sister. Siblings indeed.

It was at this point that Takumi started to zone out, thinking about his own siblings with a smile.

He was brought out of his reverie when Leo’s elbow made contact with his arm lightly. He noticed that Leo was staring at him with his signature icy expression and Takumi couldn’t help but stare back. Then he noticed the entire room was staring at him and he flushed in embarrassment.

“My name’s Takumi.” He started quickly, fidgeting with the cuffs of his shirt. “I guess my cool fact is that I practice archery.” He looked around, noting a couple of solemn nods and bored expressions, and inwardly groaned. He really just wanted to leave. Or he wanted to until Leo’s hardened voice spoke up from beside him.

“My name is Leo,” The blond had started, much like everyone else. Leo had trailed off, glaring off into the distance in thought. “I believe my ‘cool fact’,” He punctuated the words with air quotes, and Lucina looked mildly annoyed, “is that I’m double majoring in literature and history.” Ah, a man of the humanities. If Leo wasn’t such a dick, Takumi thought that they might have made good friends. But he was pretty sure his relationship with his stuck-up, blond haired roommate was forever in the gutter.

Boisterous laughter popped up from the other side of Leo, and Takumi peered over, coming face to face with a silver haired man with an eyepatch.

“Come now Leo, you have so many more interesting facts about you than just your major.” The man grinned viciously, wrapping his lengthy arm around the width of Leo’s shoulders and squeezing him tight. Leo continued to look annoyed.

“Niles.” He ground out, tensing in the man’s grip, but Niles just continued to grin.

“He absolutely..” Niles trailed off, leaning in closer to Leo with every syllable. When he was meer inches from Leo’s face, and when everyone else in the room looked super uncomfortable, he finished his sentence with, “Loves tomatoes.” Leo rolled his eyes. “Tomatoes are his favorite, so if you get off on a rough start..” Niles looked up to meet Takumi’s eyes, pointedly staring right at him. “Bring him some tomato soup. It cheers him right up.” He could hear Leo’s pointed groan as Niles was pushed, rather forcefully, away from the blond, and Takumi almost missed the way Leo’s face reddened. Almost.

While his own flush had been from pure embarrassment, Takumi thought that maybe Leo’s had been more than that. Perhaps a flush of indecency, closeness. Intimacy.

Takumi really didn’t know anything about Leo, and he assumed he never would. But Niles had given him both the methods and the means to appease the blond, and Takumi was stubborn enough to try it. He decided to file that information on Leo away for later.

From beside Leo, Niles stood, coming to his full height before bowing eloquently. “Good evening ladies and gentlemen.” The man stood back up, giving out a smirk. Leo had his face in his hands and Lucina was pinching the bridge of her nose, but his own brother Kamui was staring in awe at this odd man. Takumi swore he could see a flush rise through Kamui’s neck. Leave it to his brother to admire the abnormal ones. “I am absolutely delighted to introduce myself as Niles.” Takumi really didn’t like this guy’s tone, or his menacing smirk. He especially didn’t like the way Kamui was still staring, or the way Niles was staring right back. It irked him.

“I will be one of your RM’s this year.” He continued, “And my very special fact is that I am an astronomy major.” He was looking at Takumi again, and he shifted in his seat slightly from the intensity of his stare. “I also hold this school’s archery record at 286 points in target archery.” With that, Niles sat, and Takumi let out a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding in.

And then Takumi zoned out again, staring at the table in front of him. He wasn’t sure why, but he felt exhausted. He just wanted to go to sleep, despite it only being around 9 o’clock.

At some point, he actually did fall asleep with his head on the table, but he didn’t really think anyone noticed (or cared) that much. He didn’t dream in his sleep.

After some time, he was shaken awake lightly, opening heavy eyes to see Leo standing over him. The blond looked perturbed, so Takumi instantly jolted into consciousness and shook Leo’s hand off his shoulder.

“What do you want Leo?” Takumi spat, wiping some drool from the corner of his mouth. The room was empty except for the two of them.

Leo’s gaze hardened and his eyes narrowed, not quite glaring, but definitely not friendly. “The meeting is over.” Leo nodded towards the table quickly and Takumi turned, coming face to face with a medium sized puddle of drool. “You might want to clean that up.”

Takumi looked between the puddle and Leo a couple of times before he used his sweater sleeve to wipe up the drool, much to Leo’s disdain.

“Dude,” He started, looking more and more repulsed by the second. “There’s a bathroom right down the hall. Why didn’t you just grab some paper towels or something?” At Takumi’s slight shrug, Leo scoffed and turned away. “That’s disgusting.” Anger flared inside Takumi and in a flash, Takumi was up in Leo’s face. From here, Leo looked shocked, maybe even scared, but Takumi was too mad to notice.

“Why don’t you just fuck right off,” Takumi growled, shoving Leo away from him. “You’ve been nothing but rude to me since you got here!” The startled look on Leo’s face only further fueled Takumi’s rage. “Why would you even-” Takumi trailed off with an angry groan, trying to get the words out but failing.

A small cough came from the door, and both men turned to see Niles leaning casually on the doorframe, eyebrows furrowed. He looked upset or angry, or perhaps a mix of both. “Are we still going to dinner Leo?” He asked, voice just smooth and suave, betraying none of his emotions. Leo straightened and nodded before Niles grinned, striding forward to wrap an arm around Leo’s shoulders. “Perfect. I know just the place.” Niles sent one more menacing look in Takumi’s direction before guiding Leo out of the room swiftly.

And there Takumi was left, angry, fuming, huffing, and annoyed. So annoyed that he kicked over a chair and instantly regretted it when the loud noise met his ears. He sat the chair upright again and headed to his room to, hopefully, sleep off his frustration.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kudos and comments! 
> 
> And for future reference, here's some of the awakening kids parents and hair colors:  
> Olivia and Henry for a white haired Inigo  
> Lissa and Lonqu for a black haired Owain  
> Cordelia and Stahl for a red haired Severa  
> M!Robin and Chrom for blue haired Morgan and Lucina (will be explained later, NOT MPREG)  
> Sully and Donnel for a black haired Kjelle
> 
> Again, thank you all so much for the views, kudos, and comments!

Takumi was honestly lucky to have gotten as much restful sleep as he did. Usually his night terrors would get the better of him and he’d wake up several times throughout the night, but tonight was different. He slept soundly and it was a very nice change from the norm.

His natural clock woke him up at 6 sharp the next morning and he sat up drowsily, hair still a mess and eyes half lidded. A yawn escaped his mouth as he stretched lazily, groaning as his back popped.

Takumi climbed down from his bunk bed, careful not to slip in his drowsy state. The light from the window was faded with a curtain. Takumi huffed. That curtain had not been there yesterday when he’d unpacked his bags, and yet here it was, blocking the sunrise.

Takumi clenched his fists in anger as he stared at the curtain before he looked up at his roommate with irritation. All he could see was the top of Leo’s head poking out from his giant cocoon of blankets, but it was enough for Takumi to muster up a determined glare at the tuft of blond hair visible. _Dick._

Takumi swore as he almost ripped the curtain when he pulled it open. A sigh of relief left his lips when he could see the sunrise once more, inhaling and exhaling slowly to calm his nerves and anger.

“Why does every little thing make me so angry,” He muttered, glancing back up at Leo before a quiet knock brought Takumi back to the present.

“Hey hey!” Hinata grinned, waving slightly as Takumi opened his door. He seemed very chipper this morning, almost too chipper. Takumi let him in anyways, motioning for him to sit at Takumi’s desk chair while he got changed. Hinata did no such thing.

“So this is your roommate?” Hinata peeked over the side of the bunk, reaching in to peel the blanket away from Leo’s face. Takumi nodded slowly.

“You should probably leave him alone.” Takumi said as he moved towards the mirror to do his hair. Hinata ignored him.

“What’s his name again? Leo?” Hinata had turned towards Takumi, but his head snapped back towards the blond when Leo made a few disgruntled noises.

“Das my name..” Leo slurred sleepily, trailing off at the end. Hinata looked apprehensive, before breaking out into a full blown cackle. Takumi rolled his eyes.

“Dude, if you get punched, it’s not my fault.” Hinata stopped his raucous laughing to grin at Takumi.

“I highly doubt I’ll be punched. He can’t even keep his words straight, and his eyes aren’t even open. I think he’s just sleep talking.” Hinata turned back to the bunk. He physically jumped back when he met the glaring amber eyes of Leo.

“Who’re you?” Leo slurred once more, sitting up slightly to look down at Hinata. The blankets that were once covering him slipped down, and Takumi noticed, with great annoyance, that the blond slept shirtless. Hinata, on the other hand, looked slightly panicked as he pointed at Takumi.

“Takumi’s friend.” Well, Hinata just threw him under the bus. Takumi glared at his friend as he moved to throw on some workout clothes.

“Why’re you in here? Go away.” Leo rumbled as he turned to face the wall.

“Is this 20 questions. Aren’t you going to ask me what the airspeed velocity of an unladen sparrow is?” Hinata grinned, and Takumi groaned.

“You are such a nerd.” Takumi shook his head, but Leo shifted over. “I doubt he would know what your talking about even if he was awake-"

“African or European?” Leo asked over Takumi’s rant, and Takumi frowned. Hinata just grinned over his shoulder.  
  
“I guess your roommate’s a nerd too.” Takumi could see Leo’s eyes drooping closed again, and he figured it would be best to leave him to sleep, lest he become more mad at Takumi. 

“Hinata, let’s go before you piss off my roommate even more. Please.” Takumi begged as he finished up tying his shoes, and Hinata smiled.  
  
“Right, sorry, I just love messing with sleep talkers. It’s  just too much fun.” Hinata threw an arm around Takumi as he pulled him out the door. 

Takumi could faintly hear “I’m awake, you morons” from the bed, but he elected to ignore it as he locked the dorm door behind him.

“So Oboro isn’t joining us today?” Takumi asked as he slipped the keychain around his neck.

“Nope, she said she’s skipping today to work on her personal project. It’s just gonna be you and me, sweet stuff.” Hinata grinned. “So what’s the plan today? Weights? Endurance? Yoooooga?” He looked extremely hopeful. Takumi almost hated to shoot him down so quickly, but it needed to be done.

“No yoga.” Takumi rolled his eyes at Hinata’s groan. “If we do yoga, you don’t do yoga, you just stand there and look at the girls, remember? That’s why we had to ban it.” Takumi started for the stairs with a sad looking Hinata in tow. “You forced this on yourself.”

“I know.” Hinata looked upset, and Takumi almost felt bad. “It was worth a shot.” He squared up and cracked his knuckles. “So weights then?”

“Yeah, lets do weights, I don’t want to run today.”

* * *

 Weights was always an easier day for Takumi since reps were a lot easier than laps. Somewhere along the way, Takumi had lost Hinata to the Kendo training room, so his last two weight circuits were quiet and uneventful.

As Takumi was finishing up his shoulder press, a woman clad in only a sports bra and shorts plopped onto the bench press beside him. A smaller man followed behind her obediently, notebook and pen in hand.

 _God_ , her abs looked ridiculously amazing, like straight off of a washboard, and if Takumi wasn’t already super gay, he might’ve considered saying something.

The other man perked up as he glanced at Takumi, recognition apparent on his face. “Takumi right?” Takumi’s gaze snapped away from the woman’s abs and towards the onlooker, recognizing the blue hair.

“That’s me.” Takumi gave him a small smile and a wave, “And you’re Morgan right?” One of the only introductions Takumi had actually been awake to listen to last night.

“Nice to see you again!” Morgan smiled before placing the small notebook on the ground and  positioning himself at the head of the bench press. The woman started pumping the bar up and down, and it looked like she was doing it rather easily. “This is Kjelle. I know you slept through most of the meeting last night but I don’t think my sister saw, so you should be okay.” Takumi turned towards the woman on the bench.

“Nice to meet you, Kjelle.” The woman huffed in annoyance as she continued to lift.

“No time to talk.” She ground out, “I have to get 50 before I add weight.” Morgan laughed.

“That’s Kjelle for you.” Morgan watched in anticipation as Kjelle hefted the bar onto the holder.

“100 pounds, Morgan.” Morgan nodded quickly as he started to load weights onto the bar. Kjelle grunted out as she sat up. She faced Takumi and gave a smirk. “Nice to meet you.” Takumi looked down to see her hand outstretched towards him.

“Oh, you shake?” The words caught in his throat as Kjelle stared at him, confused. “I mean, you shake hands? Because not a lot of people do that anymore.” He started again quickly, grasping for her hand to give a firm handshake.

“Yeah, my mother always taught me that a handshake is the best judgement of character. I guess it’s just habit now.” Kjelle looked apologetic, returning the firm shake before dropping Takumi’s hand. She looked behind her at Morgan. “Is it ready Morgan?  
“Almost!” Morgan piped up as he placed the last weight onto the bar. “Alright! The bar is ready.”

“I’d love to get your ab routine.” Takumi said quickly, before Kjelle could go back to lifting. “I mean, your abs are awesome.” He flushed as soon as the words came out of his mouth but Kjelle just laughed heartily.

“Morgan, give the kid my routine.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Morgan saluted. He grabbed his notebook off the floor and began writing furiously into it. “This is Kjelle’s routine currently.” Morgan ripped the page from the book and handed it to Takumi. “And this,” He began writing furiously again and Takumi looked at the page he had given him.

 _Gods,_ 1000 situps. And three reps of that?! And even more crunches to boot!

“Here.” Morgan handed Takumi another piece of paper. “This is what I suggest you start out with.” Takumi let out a relieved sigh as he saw a significant change in numbers.

“Morgan.” Kjelle huffed out as she sat up again. “Put 150 on it.”

“Right!” Morgan scurried behind the bench press once more, lifting more weights onto the bar. Takumi gulped at the sheer weight.

“Well, it was good to meet you all.” Takumi said, waving slightly as he turned to look for Hinata.

“Likewise!” Kjelle grunted out, still pumping the bar.

* * *

 Takumi found the flirt in the Kendo training room, speaking with a red haired girl who looked very peeved to be there. Or to have Hinata there. Takumi wasn’t exactly sure which it was.

Takumi also recognized Hana, his little sister’s friend, practicing against a dummy in the corner of the room. She was shouting, as per the sport, but kept having to push her hair back out of her face. Takumi felt bad.

“Hana!” He called to her, and Hana stopped her wooden sword mid swing to turn. She looked sweaty and disgruntled, but her face lit up instantly as she noticed Takumi.

“Takumi!” She cried, running over to envelope him in a strong hug. “How are you doing! I haven’t seen you for a whole month.” She smiled and stepped back, brushing her long hair back over her shoulder. Takumi smiled softly.

“I’m doing well, and here.” He handed her one of his spare hair ties and she grabbed it quickly, pulling her hair back into a bun. “You looked like you needed it.”

“Thanks so much Takumi!” Hana grinned, holding her hand out for a high five. “Long hair buddies forever?”

“Long hair buddies forever.” Takumi grinned as high fived her outstretched hand.

“Well, I have about 50 more reps to do, so I’ll see you later.” Hana turned back towards the dummy and Takumi sighed.

“And I have to go stop Hinata before he gets himself pummeled. That girl does not look happy.” Takumi muttered as he turned towards Hinata. He was still there, talking, and, honestly, Takumi was sure Hinata was about to get himself punched.

“I would honestly just let him get punched. Maybe he’ll learn a lesson or two.” Hana said through shouts. If only Takumi could agree.

Takumi started towards Hinata, trying his best to look annoyed and apologetic at the same time. Hinata looked at him as he approached and gave an unapologetic grin.

“Hey Takumi! Did you finish your weights?” Takumi glared, pursing his lips. Hinata swallowed nervously. “Uh, this is Selena from our hall.” The girl growled.

“Ugh, it’s _Severa_ .”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. It’s just that I’ve never heard the name Severa before, and-” Hinata looked panicked in the face of Severa’s anger, and Takumi would have laughed if he wasn’t preparing to deflect any blows from Severa.

“Severa is a common name in Ylisse, you dolt.” Severa growled. “Just leave me alone. Your sad attempt at flirting is making me nauseous.”

“Right..” Hinata backed away from Severa, never turning his back to her. “I guess I’ll see you later?” Hinata said, searching for a reply.

“No.”

“Alright.” Hinata sighed, looking miserable. Takumi definitely felt bad now.

“Hinata, you really need to learn which girls are okay to flirt with and which aren’t.” Takumi whispered to him, wrapping an arm around Hinata’s waist and leading him towards the door of the Kendo training room.

“But all women are queens, Takumi.”

“That isn’t even remotely what I mean and you know it.” Takumi groaned out. “And stop making everything a meme.”

* * *

 After the whole Severa incident, Takumi headed towards the dining hall with Hinata in tow. It was packed this morning, with almost every table being fully seated.

“Should we just get our food to-go?” Hinata asked as he stared into the crowd of people. Takumi shrugged.

“Up to you.” Takumi said as he scooped eggs onto his plate. “It’s going to be hard to find a table for us.”

“I’d rather stay if possible. I never liked eating in my dorm.” Hinata finished grabbing his food, and he stood beside Takumi while the latter grabbed a biscuit. “It always felt too dirty. Like I was going to get ants or something.”

“With as messy of an eater as you are, I could see it happening.” Hinata gasped in mock outrage.

“Rude.” Takumi just grinned as he walked into the table area. He searched desperately for a free table, but there were none to be found. The whole area was packed.

“What about over there?” Hinata piped up from beside Takumi, pointing to a half empty table across the room. “There’s two free chairs over there. Let’s go!” Takumi glanced at the table before going pale.

“Dude, the guy at that table is my shitty roommate.” Takumi said, but Hinata was already setting his breakfast tray on the table across from Leo and a black-haired man. The blond’s bed head was gone, replaced with combed hair and a small headband, and he’d changed into regular clothes.

Takumi begrudgingly followed his friend, setting his tray across the table from the scruffy looking black-haired man. Leo was already glaring at him. _Dick_.

“Oh gods, it wasn’t a dream, was it? You,” He turned his glare on Hinata. “woke me up this morning. Didn’t you?”

Hinata smiled apprehensively. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t think you would actually wake up.” Takumi pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sorry about Hinata, he’s quite dense.” Takumi started, because even though this guy was an ass, that didn’t give Hinata the liberty to wake him up in the mornings. And it seems like that whole Hinata thing really pissed Leo off. So now he was even more mad.

“Whatever, I was just leaving anyways.” Leo stood, motioning for the man sitting next to him to follow. “Come on Owain, let’s go to the library or something. Just not here.” The blond grabbed his plate and left in a rush. Owain stayed a little longer, until Leo was out of earshot.

“I don’t know what you guys did to make him this mad, but he’s super mad. Emphasis on the ‘super’ part.” Owain looked tense, and confused.

“I didn’t even do anything!” Takumi growled, watching as Owain gathered up his plate. Leo was waiting at the conveyor.

“I don’t know then, man.” Owain shrugged. “I can’t really help you, but I’ll see you guys later!”

“Wow, fun year for you, huh.” Hinata said as soon as Owain and Leo had left.

“Hinata shut up, _please_.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy holidays you guys! Hope it was a good year for everyone!  
> And thanks for all the kudos guys~! It means a lot!  
> Sorry this chapter is kinda short, but classes should start next chapter so there will be more to talk about.

“Please Lucina, there has to be a way.” Takumi whined. The desk chair he’d been sitting in for half an hour was starting to make his back sore, and his initial sour attitude was only worsened by the apparent lack of action that his RA could take.

“I’m sorry Takumi, but there are no open rooms available. If one opens up, I will let you know.” It was the third time she’d given that excuse, and Takumi could almost feel the annoyance radiating from her. Takumi deflated at the idea of spending an entire semester with Leo as his roommate. There had to be a way.

“Kamui,” Takumi startled in realization. His brother would have no qualms with becoming his roommate, and then they could just throw Leo with whoever Kamui’s old roommate was. Perfect.

“What about Kamui, Lucina?” Takumi couldn’t contain his grin of success. This was perfect, the best plan he’d ever come up with. No loopholes. Lucina was checking her floor list quietly, before frowning.

“I’m sorry Takumi, but your brother already agreed to become the floor representative for the semester, so he is contractually obliged to room with the RM.” Takumi’s grin faded quickly, replaced by a confused look. Kamui never said anything about being the floor representative to him.

“The RM? Who’s the RM?” Takumi asked, dreading that he already knew the answer. Lucina looked over her floor list again.

“I’m pretty sure it’s Niles.” Takumi’s heart dropped into his stomach when Lucina spoke, even more so when she continued. “Yep, it’s Niles.”

“Fuck.” So his brother was lost to Niles, and he was stuck with Leo for the semester, with no way out it seemed.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

“I truly am sorry about your roommate situation though, Takumi.” Lucina looked apologetic enough, and Takumi rubbed his face tiredly. “If you would like, I can arrange an appointment with the dorm counselor to get some sessions for you and Leo.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Takumi sighed. “But thank you for the offer.”

* * *

 “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about any of this!” Takumi cried, head resting on the cafe table and meeting his brother’s eyes. Across from him, Kamui smiled, reaching out to grasp a few strands of Takumi’s hair from his ponytail. “I thought you trusted me, Kamui. I thought you loved me, but I guess I was wrong.” Takumi whined in betrayal.

Kamui chuckled. “You’re just a big dork, y’know that.” His fingers were weaving small braids in Takumi’s hair, a habit that Takumi had picked up on years ago. It meant Kamui had something on his mind, and it wasn’t necessarily good. Something was bothering his brother, but Takumi didn’t know if he could convince Kamui to tell him. Kamui had this weird complex where he just let whatever it was eat at him because he didn’t want anyone to worry.  
  
"What's wrong Kamui?" Takumi piped up from the table, eyes steeling themselves on his brother. He was going to say nothing was wrong when Takumi knew better.  
  
"Nothing's wrong Takumi." And there it was. Kamui looked uncomfortably concerned, and he grabbed at some more of Takumi's hair to put into his makeshift braid. Takumi could feel his hands shake slightly as he did so.  
  
"Kamui." Takumi frowned, pulling his hair away from Kamui as he sat up.  
  
"Nothing's wrong I promise. Now give me your hair back so I can finish!" Kamui looked agitated as he made grabby hands at Takumi.  
  
"You only braid my hair when something's wrong! I know that much about you!" Takumi growled. His brother made a face as he lowered his hands.  
  
"Alright, fine. Something is wrong." Finally. Takumi finally got him to tell the truth. The relief must've crossed his features because Kamui was instantly trying to backpedal verbally."But I can't tell you what is wrong." Takumi's face twisted into a frown once more.  
  
"Why can't you tell me? I'm your brother, you can tell me anything! You tell me everything!"  
  
"Look, Takumi, it's not that I don't trust you. It's just that," Kamui sighed. "It's kind of a secret and it's, uh, very personal. So I can't just tell you. I made a promise." Kamui looked rather miserable, but Takumi wasn't satisfied with that answer.  
  
"If I guess who it's about will you tell me?"  
  
"No." Kamui's negative response came at the same time that Takumi shouted "Niles!" at him. Kamui's ragged sigh reached Takumi's ears, and he knew that this whole thing had something to do with his brother's roommate.  
  
"What did he do Kamui?" Takumi instantly scowled at the thought of Niles ever touching his brother, no matter the circumstances. "Did he hurt you or something?" Kamui's laugh broke the tension.  
  
"Of course not, dear brother. You forget that I can fend for myself it seems." Kamui's grin eased Takumi's worry.  
  
"Then what-"  
  
"Takumi." Kamui’s grin fell from his face. There was pain in those irises, something he never wanted to see in his brother's red eyes. "Just drop it, okay? Forget I said anything."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No. Stop." Kamui's face had hardened, leaving little room for argument. "I told you to drop it. I shouldn't have even told you that much." Kamui looked at his phone with furrowed eyebrows and grimaced. "Damn, it's already three o’clock. I have to get going."  
  
"What? Where are you going? It's not like you have any work! Classes haven't even started yet!" Takumi frowned. “Stay here with me.”  
  
"Takumi, I have things that need to be done. Niles and I have some planning to do for this semester." Kamui stood to leave, ruffling his brother's hair as a goodbye gesture. "It's going to be a fun year, I promise you that much." Kamui turned towards the door, but stopped himself short of leaving to perk up. "You should also, um, give Leo a second chance." Takumi looked up at his brother questioningly, but Kamui was already gone as the bell jingled at the top of the door.  
  
Takumi stood as well, except, instead of leaving, he headed towards the bakery register. There, a woman was wiping down the counter, her purple hair pulled back into a bun at the back of her head. The nametag on her shirt read 'Camilla' and she smiled at him as he approached.  
  
"What can I get for you darling." She crooned, resting her chin on the display case. "Perhaps  seconds of the apple-cardamom pie?" Takumi flushed as his stomach rumbled happily at the thought, and Camilla's face lit up in pride.  
  
"Yes, please, and can I get it to go?" Takumi asked quickly, keeping his hungry gaze on the slice of pie Camilla had retrieved from the display case. He didn't know how they achieved such a perfect pie, but Takumi had never tasted anything better in his life. It was a shame this was a local place, because that meant he couldn't get their wonderful desserts when he went home for break. All the confections and pastries, not to mention the cakes, were perfect. He'd really never tasted better dessert in his life.  
  
"Of course, sweet stuff." Camilla smiled as she slipped the pie into a Styrofoam box and handed it to Takumi. "Now, will that be all for you today, honey?"  
  
"Yeah, how much do I owe?"  
  
"Three dollars and seventy five cents," Camilla said, but turned away Takumi's outstretched hand that held his five dollar bill. Takumi's eyebrow raised slightly as Camilla smiled. "On the house. For coming so regularly."  
  
"Oh, no, I couldn't possibly-"  
  
"I insist, darling." Camilla smiled once more, and Takumi huffed as his face flushed. While it was very much appreciated, he felt bad accepting this for free. And his guilt was starting to catch up with him between his roommate troubles and bothering Kamui.  
  
His eyes found the half-filled tip jar resting beside the register, and he hastily stuffed his five dollar bill into the open mason jar.  
  
"You're quite the stubborn young man aren't you." Camilla's praise reached his ears and Takumi could feel the flush burn down his neck and through the tips of his ears. Her smile was kind and warm. "I think you and my brother would get along swimmingly. He's about your age. Goes to school here too." There was a twinkle buried somewhere beneath her strong irises as Takumi turned to leave.  
  
"I guess I'll meet him one day if I stick around long enough. Thank you again!" With his pie in hand, Takumi slipped out the door to the jingle of the bells above.

  
"Oh darling." Camilla started as she watched Takumi walk away from her storefront. "You’ve already met."

* * *

 

The sun was warm as Takumi traversed through campus. It really was a beautiful campus, older than most, with brick buildings hundreds of years old, and trees older. It was a quick walk through the quad to get back to his room. It was relaxing like this, no rush, nowhere to be. Just Takumi and his pie. But what Kamui said to him was confusing him. Second chances? For Leo in particular? Why?

When he returned to his dorm, he wasn’t expecting to come face to face with his roommate laying a line of bright red tape over the floor. When Leo noticed him, he stood quickly and grinned almost menacingly, like he was proud. Takumi’s frown returned.

“What is this, and why?” Takumi asked, and Leo stood beside him, admiring his handiwork from afar. Leo pointed towards his bed and the sink.

“My side,” Leo started, then pointed at Takumi’s bed and the mini fridge. “Your side. You stay on your side with your friends, and I’ll stay on mine.” Second chances be damned, Leo was just an asshole.

“You’re insufferable.” Takumi hissed. “What about the sink? I suddenly can’t use that?” Leo shrugged.

“There’s a bathroom right down the hall that you can use. It has sinks.”

“This is ridiculous.” Takumi growled, then remembered something. He had the fridge. Leo had stuff in the fridge. Perfect.

He opened said fridge and grabbed one of Leo’s many energy drinks from inside, tossing it at him. “If I can’t use the sink, you can’t use the fridge.” The face of pure betrayal was almost enough to make Takumi laugh, if he wasn’t already seething with rage at the stupidity of the entire situation.

“Wait, no, but-” Takumi grinned. Checkmate.

“No buts. These are your own rules. Now either retract them, or lose access to the box of coldness.” Leo’s face twisted in anger as he shoved the energy drink into Takumi’s hands. He leaned down to pick the tape off the ground.

“Just put it back in the fridge.” Leo growled from his knees.

Well, Leo might hate him more now, but at least he had the upper hand.


	4. Chapter 4

It was a three days of awkward silence and quick glances before classes started for the semester, and Takumi was secretly glad to have something to do. His friends whined, but Takumi knew that he felt his worst when he was doing nothing.

His Monday schedule was easy enough: his political science lecture in the morning, enough time in the afternoon for lunch and archery practice, and his ‘History of War and Peace’ lecture in the evening. 

Monday’s morning workouts went about as planned, Takumi working his core with Kjelle’s workout plan, and Hinata off doing whatever it was he did (assuming he did more than flirt with girls in the Kendo training room). Oboro had joined him this morning as well, taking a jog on the treadmills instead of doing Takumi’s grueling workout with him. 

By the time he was done with his core circuits (which had taken him longer than he thought they would),Takumi had little time to do anything else. With his core tired at the strain and only thirty minutes to get to his first lecture of the semester, he rushed to say goodbye to Oboro, and asked her to make sure Hinata didn’t do anything stupid, to which she just snorted breathlessly and continued running. 

He all but ran back to his dorm to grab his toiletries and take a quick shower, just to get the stink of a workout off. 

When he returned to his room, hair wrapped in a towel and shorts hanging low on his waist, Leo was already half awake, staring tiredly at his own reflection in the mirror above the sink. They both gave the other half glares and continued their own morning routines. 

As soon as Leo was finished combing his hair in the mirror, Takumi stole it from him, brushing his hair back into his signature ponytail quickly. It was then that, in the reflection of the mirror, Takumi noticed Leo pull his v-neck shirt over his head backwards. 

Leo grabbed his bag and headed for the door. Should Takumi say something, or just let Leo embarrass himself? The latter option was so appealing, but Kamui’s words of second chances echoed in his head, and his heart dropped into stomach with guilt.

“Leo.” He called out, as Leo opened the door to leave. He was met with a glare. “Your shirt’s on backwards.” Takumi flinched as the blond slammed the door shut without a second thought, looking down at his collar with a mortified expression. That mortified expression was gone in a second, replaced with one of anger. 

“Perhaps I like my shirts on backwards.” Leo’s said, sounding both embarrassed and displeased. Takumi just shrugged at him, looking unimpressed as he went back to fixing his hair.

Out of the corner of his eye, Takumi could see Leo flip his shirt around quickly and leave through the door.

* * *

 

His lecture went about as planned: a rereading of the syllabus and a quick overview of the schedule, important test dates, etcetera. All the boring stuff really.

When the class was over, Takumi rejoiced, practically running back to the gym to sign into the archery range. It was practically empty, to Takumi’s enjoyment. The only other people there were a pink haired archer a couple of rows down, and a blue haired man watching her intently from the wall behind her, arms crossed. Neither noticed when he picked up a bow, and they weren’t talking so Takumi was free to focus on his own archery. 

It was only about ten minutes of silence before the pink and blue pair decided to leave, and Takumi lowered his bow as they passed behind him out of courtesy. 

He waited for the door of the range to shut before he nocked another arrow. He was beginning to pull the bowstring back when a smooth voice snapped him out of his focus. He let the string go, watching in annoyance as the arrow barely made it in the outer ring, before he turned to face the owner of the voice.

His eyes narrowed at the man behind him. “Niles,” he ground out, lowering his bow once more. The annoyance was leaning on the wall behind Takumi, arms crossed over his chest and an insufferable smirk on his face. “How did you even get in here? Go away.” He turned back to the target.

“Now, is that any way to greet a friend?” Takumi groaned, nocking another arrow. 

“You are no friend of mine. Please leave.” Takumi pulled the bowstring back quickly, before releasing. The arrow hit the dead center of the target. Takumi smirked in satisfaction before he froze.

“Your brother was worried about you.” Niles voice whispered in his ear, and Takumi dropped his bow on the range floor. His voice was too close to his ear, hot breath wafting over the shell, and Takumi felt both uncomfortable and intrigued. 

Takumi jumped away as soon as he could, turning to face the arrogant man. “W-when did you get behind me?” He stuttered out, reaching down to pick his bow up from the ground. The man in front of him did nothing but stare down with one menacing eye. Takumi returned the stare with his own, straightening out to his full height. “What do you want anyways?” The man before him laughed, and Takumi furrowed his eyebrows in anger. He wanted to get back to his archery practice, but he didn’t know what would happen if he turned his back to this man again.

“Like I said, your brother was worried about you.” Niles’ smirked widened into a pleased grin. “He texted you a couple hours ago about lunch but you never responded.” Takumi groaned in an exaggerated motion. “I believe he wanted to talk to you about something, but he wouldn’t say what.” 

“Hinoka.” Takumi said, massaging his tense face with one hand as he hurriedly placed the bow he had been using back on the rack. Niles watched him cautiously, following his every move with one eye.

“Hinoka?” Niles said, question lingering in his tone, though Takumi chose to ignore him. They were both silent before Niles spoke up once more. “What does Hinoka mean?” 

“It’s none of your business.” Takumi spat as he gathered up his bag. He had to keep up this angry facade long enough to get Niles off his back, because his heart was about to burst from his chest. He didn’t want to see her. He wasn’t strong enough to handle seeing her again this early.

He walked to the door, hearing Niles follow behind him. The grip on his bag tightened as his eyes brimmed with tears. He couldn’t see her. He just couldn’t.

A hand gripped his shoulder, but he just brushed it off, turning to give a weak glare at the man behind him. Niles recoiled a bit, just now noticing the tears, and Takumi cursed. 

“Fuck off,” Takumi wiped an eye, giving Niles a proper glare before he left the archery range.

* * *

 

When he got back to his room, Takumi collapsed into his desk chair. The stinging in his eyes was overwhelming. The room was dark. He laid his head on his desk, letting the tears fall from his eyes.

His whole chest felt tight. His breathing quickened as he thought about his oldest sister, and the guilt hit him straight in the gut. The worst part about all of this was the guilt. 

When the knock on his door came, his eyes were already puffy, itchy, and dry, having cried out his frustrations in restrained sobs. His head throbbed with a dull pain, and, as he stood, his vision swayed. Takumi stilled himself on his bed frame momentarily, before he opened the door to an irritated Kamui with his nose stuck in his phone.

“Takumi, I thought we had plans to visit Hinoka today, and then you just bail on me?” Kamui finally glanced up from his phone, taking in the state of his younger brother. His face immediately softened. “Takumi,” his brother started, stepping a bit closer, dropping a hand on his shoulder. “It’s her birthday.” In a move Takumi knew was supposed to be comforting, Kamui squeezed his shoulder. “You have to see her.”

“I can’t.” Takumi’s whisper was choked as tears threatened to fall once more. 

“Takumi..” Kamui squeezed his shoulder again, and all he could feel was overwhelming guilt.

“He said he can’t go.” Leo’s voice was hard, borderline venomous, and Takumi’s head shot up, as did Kamui’s. The blond was standing behind them, arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed. His glare, for once, was not pointed at Takumi.

“This doesn’t pertain to you, Leo. This is a family matter.” Kamui turned away from him, starting to pull Takumi away from the safety of his room. 

“Regardless of what you might think, Kamui, this does pertain to me.” Leo spoke up again, stepping between Kamui and Takumi, forcing the former to release his grip on Takumi’s shoulder. “Whatever it is that you want him to do, Takumi already has plans. With me.”

“Oh, are you family now? What right do you have to tell me what my brother is or isn’t doing?” Takumi could tell that Kamui was getting more and more agitated as the conversation continued, but Leo just stood there in between them, taking the brunt of Kamui’s anger for him. 

There were a couple more angry words from Kamui before he sighed. “Takumi,” he started, speaking to his brother from over Leo’s shoulder. “Is there anything you want me to tell Hinoka.” Kamui’s eyes were searching for some sort of excuse he could soften the news of Takumi’s absence with.

“Tell her I’m sick. And to have a happy birthday.” Kamui nodded, starting down the hallway towards the stairs. Leo continued to stand in front of him until Kamui had disappeared down the stairs, before he turned around to look at Takumi.

“You look miserable.” Takumi’s head shot up to glare at Leo, expecting to see his face curled in arrogance, but the emotion on Leo’s face was untraceable. 

Takumi turned away from Leo with an utterance of ‘shut up’ and made his way back into his dorm room. Leo followed, closing the door behind them and stopping by the mini fridge to grab an energy drink from it. 

“You really did a number on your desk.” Leo stated, staring at the wetness that permeated the top of the desk, and Takumi snorted. Leo’s voice was still untraceable.

“Yeah, I did.” Takumi grabbed one of his hand towels and began to wipe at his desk, looking up when Leo placed the energy drink on his desk. Takumi gave him a confused look, and Leo nodded towards the drink.

“I wasn’t lying when I said you looked miserable. Your head probably hurts, right?” Takumi nodded. “You’re dehydrated from the crying. It’s giving you a headache.” Leo turned away from Takumi to sit at his own desk. 

“You’re just giving this to me?” Takumi lifted up the bright blue drink, staring at the back of Leo’s head.

“No, clearly not, I’m totally not doing something nice, I would never.” Leo turned back towards Takumi, sarcasm dripping from his voice and he gave Takumi a sour look that made him backtrack slightly.

“I just thought,” Takumi started, flinching at Leo’s look of annoyance. “I just thought you hated me.” Leo laughed, and Takumi could feel his face flush. He had one of those cute laughs that were super contagious.

“You think I hate you?” Leo’s mouth cracked a grin. “Trust me, there’s only one person in this world that I hate, and it’s definitely not you.”

* * *

 

“I can’t believe you thought I hated you.” Leo laughed out, gripping the straps on his backpack as he walked alongside Takumi. They both had their evening history lecture together. “Like seriously, what even gave you that idea?” Takumi rolled his eyes.

“Oh, I don’t know, literally everything you did or said seemed to be mean.” Takumi huffed, re-adjusting his messenger bag on his shoulder. “You kept glaring at me too.”

“Well, uh, sorry about that. At the very least, if we stay mad at each other this is bound to be a shitty year.” Leo stopped and turned to extend his hand towards Takumi. “Acquaintances?” Takumi frowned.

“Leo, we live together.” 

“Friends then?”

“Fine.” Takumi sighed, taking Leo’s hand and giving it a firm shake, and Leo’s face curled into a smirk. 

“Holy shit, your hands are so small.” 

“Shut up Leo!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about this being so late! thank you for all the kudos and comments though!
> 
> real life caught up to me this month and kicked me in the butt
> 
> at least things are okay between my boys now?


	5. Chapter 5

"Wait, so you're just friends now? Just like that?" Oboro's face twisted into her trademark frown. "Did he even apologize for what he did? What he said?" 

“I mean, he said he was sorry for the misunderstanding?” Takumi shrugged almost questioningly.

"So you're just going to trust him?"

"Oboro chill." Hinata paused his game of Mario Odyssey to turn in his chair, fixing Takumi with a pitiful look. "I'm sure Takumi has his reasons. This might not be so bad for him."

"What are you even talking about? This Leo guy is a jerk to him for a whole week and then he just does a 180 personality flip and he suddenly wants to be best friends? Something's not right." She pinches the bridge of her nose as her nostrils flare.

"Oh please, you just don't want to admit that Takumi is capable of making friends that aren't us."

"What?!"

"Guys, I'm right here." Takumi frowned. He was capable of making friends, sure, but he was just as capable at losing them.

"Don't you see what a Nohrian could do to him?"

"No, Oboro, what could a Nohrian do to him?" Oboro sputtered a bit, recoiling physically.

"I just- Nohrians-" Oboro took a deep breath before unleashing her demon face. "They steal livelihoods with their stupid materialism. I hate them. And you think Takumi’s judgement is enough to determine whether this one is good? Are there really any good Nohrians?!"

"I am still right here." Takumi waved, but neither of his friends acknowledged him.

"That's just a stupid stereotype Oboro, and you're just projecting your hatred for big Nohrian chain companies onto one kid from Nohr. That's just not fair."

"Shut up, Hinata!" Oboro's fierce cry made both Hinata and Takumi jump. "You don't know how much that affected me and my parents."

"Um," Takumi started, and both of his friends turned to stare at him, Oboro practically fuming and Hinata looking nervous, like he just fucked something up big time. "I'm going to go to class now. I'll- uh- talk to you guys later." And he hightailed it out of there before Hinata could tell him no. Like hell he was staying there when Oboro was that mad because Hinata was an idiot.

* * *

 

His next class, an evening lecture, was a breeze, though there wasn't anyone he recognized in the class, which made it rather boring. The walk back was also quiet and dark. He kept his mace in his pocket and his long hair was tucked into the hood of his sweatshirt. There were a couple instances last year where he had been mistaken for a girl, and he did not want to relive those experiences.

Nothing bad happened of course. Well, nothing bad happened to him. The other guys though? Let's just say their faces met with the concrete on more than one occasion.

He got to his dorm building safely, as per usual, and climbed the three flights of stairs necessary to get to his room (why were there no elevators??).

He was fishing for his key as he heard a loud bout of rambunctious yelling coming from the common room. It sounded like whoever was in there was having a hell of a good time. He began fishing once more before another loud screech came from the common room and Takumi decided to check it out. It was only around 6 after all, so it's not like he was that tired yet.

As he walked through the hall, the yelling became louder and louder. Once he reached the end of the hallway, he peered his head into the common room, where he could see a blond and a black haired head peering over the couch and the third red haired man sitting on the ground. 

"What are you guys doing in here that's so invigorating?" He asked, still just standing in the door frame. The blond turned around, while the other two men kept poking at each other.

"Sorry, are we too loud? We'll tone it down." His voice carried with it a slight accent, and the other two turned to look at Takumi. All three wore apologetic expressions, so Takumi had to backtrack slightly.

"I- uh- No, I just wanted to know what you guys were doing in here." Smooth Takumi, other than the stutter, that would've been just fine. 

The two on the couch looked at each other mischievously, before the redhead popped up over the top of the couch, holding out his hand to Takumi with a grin. "Name's Eliwood." 

Takumi took his hand in a firm grip. "Takumi." Eliwood popped back over the couch and settled back down on the floor, and Takumi followed him further into the room, catching a spare glimpse of the TV and nearly freaking out. 

On the screen was Super Smash Bros Melee, connected via an original GameCube, with original GameCube controllers and everything. 

"Holy shit." He tried to say, but it came out as nothing more than a breathy whisper.

"You play?" The black haired man spoke up, and Takumi finally took a good look at the two men on the couch. One he recognized as Owain from breakfast that one time Leo was super mad at him, and the other he recognized from the floor meeting but was never able to catch his name.

"Of fucking course!" Takumi cried, plopping himself down next to Owain. Eliwood grinned from the floor and handed him a spare controller. Takumi didn't consider himself a huge gamer, but he could definitely get behind some Super Smash Bros any day of the week. 

"We're doing Fox only, no items, Final Destination." Owain spoke, and Takumi might've believed him if it weren't for the cackles that followed the meme. If that was the case, Takumi was going to go with his main, Link

"Like hell." Eliwood shouted from the ground, picking Roy as his character and starting the match before anyone had a chance to complain.

Owain and the blond man both groaned. "Dude, why do you pick Roy. He's, like, so bad." 

"Shut up nerds, Roy's my boy." 

"He's literally the worst character in the game besides Pichu." 

"Roy's my boy."

"Just use Hero-King Marth if you want a swordsman."

"Roy. Is. My. Boy." Eliwood ground out as the match started, thrusting all four men into a free-for-all fight to the death.

* * *

 

Eliwood's Roy came out on top, twenty one times out of thirty, and Takumi felt like he either got shit on by a pro player, or he really lost his touch.

"I told you guys: Roy's my boy." Eliwood grinned from his place on the floor.

"How.." Owain started.

"Is that kind of play even possible. How can you do well with Roy?" The blond man, who Takumi had come to know as Inigo, spoke up, staring lifelessly at the ceiling. "He's objectively bad."

"I've decided to name my first born son after Roy." 

"Bro, don't do that. Please. That's too meme-y." Owain groaned as he massaged his own forehead from the sheer stupidity.

"That's why it's perfect."

"Won't Hector be sad that you aren't going to name your first born Hector Jr.?" Inigo asked, and Eliwood scoffed.

"Hector will appreciate the pure memeage of this."

* * *

 

When Takumi got back to his room, it was already close to 10 and although he was hungry, he knew there wouldn’t be anything open. So he chewed up an energy bar his mother had packed him from home and settled down to sleep. It was already past his bedtime, after all, and Takumi was a stickler for schedules, especially when it came to his sleep schedule. It helped lessen the burden of his depression when he had a set schedule.

He fell asleep rather quickly, dropping himself into the realm of dreams without hesitation. 

His dreams were about something bad, but by the time Leo woke him up, face to face, he couldn’t remember what had been so horrible. All he could really think of was Leo’s rounded face so close to his. 

As his hearing faded back in, he could faintly hear Leo calling his name, feel him shaking his shoulder, and Takumi’s groan jerked from the back of his throat as he sat up.

“What?” He jumbled out, through tired lips, and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before he looked down at Leo. His face was soft, like he wasn’t sure of something. Takumi faintly noticed the lamp on Leo’s desk was lit and several papers were sprawled out across the table. Ah, that was probably homework he had been working on.

He watched as Leo’s face hardened, eyebrows furrowing down and lips curling into a displeased frown. 

“You were having a pretty loud nightmare.” Aw, Leo cared about him! Color Takumi surprised. “It was getting really annoying, and I’m trying to study.” And nevermind. He should’ve known that Leo was only doing it for himself. Serves him right for assuming.

“Sorry..” Takumi sighed out, laying back down on his bed, before he turned to look down at Leo. He had gone back to diligently looking over the several papers scattered around his desk. “What are you even studying? It’s the first week in the semester.” Takumi propped his head on his hand curiously. “There can’t be that much that you’ve learned in five days.”

“It’s for a history class about Archanea through the eyes of the nobility that once ruled it.” Leo said, not even looking up from his notes. There was a quiet pause, and Leo stopped ruffling his papers around. Then he turned to look back up at Takumi, face soft once more. “What was your dream about? It sounded pretty bad.”

Takumi was sure his chuckle confused Leo even more, but he couldn’t help it. It must’ve sounded so bad from an outsider, but Takumi couldn’t even remember what it had been about once he had be woken up.

“You really aren’t going to believe this, but I really can’t remember what I was dreaming about.” Takumi laid flat on his back, eyes on the ceiling. “I can never remember what I’m dreaming about, only that it’s bad.” Leo was still looking up at him. Takumi could feel the burning gaze on the side of his head, though he didn’t bother to look down at his roommate.

“Don’t they say ‘Dreams are things you have forgotten’? Perhaps your subconscious is trying to get you to remember something.” 

“But what could I have possibly forgotten?” Takumi whined, thinking hard about all the possibilities and coming up short. “I’ve never really been the forgetful type.” Leo’s own chuckle broke Takumi from his thoughts, and he looked down once more to see the blond looking up at him with a soft smile.

“It’s just a quote Takumi. Forget I said anything at all.” Takumi frowned, still staring at the ceiling with annoyance. He was already starting to fall back asleep, but he still had to get the last word in.

“I just told you I wasn’t very forgetful.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> bruh, this is super short but it's something? real life has been kicking me in the butt still and it hasnt even been fun
> 
> at least ive decided theres gonna be sex stuff in this fic probably so, well, rating may change, and ill change tags if need be
> 
> again, thanks for all the kudos and views and comments and stuff :)


	6. Chapter 6

The next few weeks were filled with easy, basic material, but with the first tests of the semester coming up, Takumi couldn’t help but feel a little anxious. Nothing that couldn’t be cured with some rigorous studying, but he was anxious none-the-less. 

On the other hand, his relationship with Leo seemed tense ever since that whole ‘crying because of Hinoka’ incident. They rarely ever saw each other, with Takumi’s early morning schedule keeping him out of the room, and Leo’s late night class schedule paired with late mornings. They rarely saw each other and talked even less (not that Takumi was complaining), but the lack of communication was brutal, and the only time they actually spent together was in silence as they studied.

Speaking of studying, he really needed to, and now was a perfect time. It was only around seven, but that should give him plently of time to study before he got too tired and went to bed. He was coming back from one of his evening seminars too, meaning Leo was probably studying in their room too. A nice quiet comfortable atmosphere for the both of them would be nice. 

Once he opened the door to his dorm, prepared to study diligently, he was met with a new face, a woman with pink hair and dark clothes. And she was sitting in his desk chair, talking animatedly with Leo. This mystery woman had yet to realize his presence in the doorway, and only jolted up when he closed the door, albeit rather loudly. 

“Ah sorry- I was just- My name is-” She jumped to her feet, pushing some of her pink hair behind her ear and fidgeting with the bottom of her black blouse. “I mean- I’m not..” There was a large exhale of breath, and Leo stood as well, placing a calm hand on the woman’s shoulder. 

“This is my classmate Felicia.” Leo said, smiling gently at the way she relaxed into his touch, placing her own hand lightly over his. Takumi felt the slightest bit irked by her presence, but he couldn’t place why. Leo continued nonetheless, “She and I went to the same high school together, though we never did have any classes together did we?” Leo dropped his hand from her shoulder, but Takumi could see their hands were close enough to brush against each other, and, boy, did that make him feel  _ uncomfortable _ . 

“Yep.” Her smile was blinding for just a moment, before she checked the time on her phone. “Oh gods, it’s so late! When did it get this late?” Leo chuckled softly, and Takumi could barely contain his growl. “I’ve got to get back to my dorm!” Felicia began to scramble to pick up her stuff.

“Let me walk you back.” Leo offered, handing one of her notebooks, and Takumi could almost see the relief fill in her chest. 

“Thank you Leo. You always were such a gentleman.” Takumi just watched the two dance around each other in a sickening swirl of pining and busied glances, before he fished the mace out of his pocket and held it out towards Leo.

“Take this.” Leo glanced at him, confusion written all over his face. He reached for the mace, but Felicia’s dainty hand stopped him from taking it from Takumi.

“Oh, don’t worry about that Taco Meat, I’ve got my own.” Felicia held up her own canister of mace, and Takumi frowned deeply as he noticed Leo trying his best not to burst out in laughter.

“My name is Takumi.” He ground out, placing the mace on his desk. “Ta-ku-mi. Not Taco Meat.” He gave Felicia a forced smile, and Leo’s cheeks were turning a bright red in the background from the effort of holding back his own laughs. There was a moment of silence, Takumi looking particularly displeased, Felicia’s face rapidly coloring in her own embarrassment, and Leo in the background, heaving deep breaths with his hand over his own mouth as he tried not to crack up.

“Oh gods, I’ve done it again!” Felicia wailed, both hands covering her bright red face. “I’m so sorry!” She dashed towards the door and slammed it shut behind her as quickly as she could manage, and as soon as she was gone, Leo burst into laughter, turning away from Takumi as if that would hide the fact that he was getting a kick out of this.

“I can’t believe she called you Taco Meat!” He wheezed out between laughs, covering his mouth in a sad attempt to stifle his laughter.

“Yeah, real funny. Hilarious.” His voice was deadpan, and he crossed his arms. “You better hurry up at go if you’re going to walk her back. She’s probably already down the stairs by now.”

“Fuck you’re right.” Leo grabbed his jacket but stopped short of the door. “Mind if I..?” He trailed off, nodding towards the mace. Takumi just scoffed and tossed it at Leo. 

“Thanks, Taco Meat!” And Leo was gone before Takumi could yell at him.

This whole situation sucked, and now he was just angry. Fuck studying, he really needed some comfort food right now.

* * *

 

“Holy shit!” Hinata’s laugh grated on his ears. “I can’t believe she actually called you Taco Meat!” He doubled over in his chair, clutching his belly as he laughed. “That’s so fucking funny, holy shit!” Takumi huffed as he crossed his arms, picking lazily at the vanilla ice cream in front of him. He came here to get ice cream, not get laughed at even more.

“Honestly Hinata, I came here to have a good time, and you’re kinda ruining it for me.” Hinata’s shit-eating grin was slowly replaced by a much warmer, almost apologetic smile.

“Sorry, sorry, I’ll stop. I can tell you’re in a bad mood.” Takumi growled, arms tightening over the expanse of his chest. “I gotta ask though: Why is this bothering you so much?”

Takumi glared daggers into his cup of ice cream. “She called me Taco Meat, and then he called me Taco Meat. Why wouldn’t I be upset?”   


“That’s not it. There’s something else you’re upset about.” Hinata snapped his fingers a bit as he tried to get Takumi’s eyes on him, but Takumi’s eyes were trained on the ice cream alone. “You know you can tell me.” His voice was soft, and Takumi’s furrowed brown lessened slightly.

“There’s nothing else bothering me. She called me Taco Meat.”    


“Grades?” 

“No.”   


“Tests?”

“No."

“Stress?”

“No.” There was a pause, a moment of silence, before Hinata sighed, placing both elbows on the table and resting his chin in his hands. The spoon to his ice cream was hanging precariously in his mouth. 

“Is it Hinoka?” Takumi’s furrowed brow deepened tenfold, and Hinata sighed once more, placing a hand on Takumi’s head. “How is she? Doing well I hope?” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Takumi’s eyes shifted from the ice cream to the floor next to the table, tracing along the patterned tile. Hinata ruffled Takumi’s hair slightly before backing off.

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. Just know that I’m here for you when you do.” 

“Thanks Hinata, you’re a good friend.” Takumi takes a decently sized bite of vanilla ice cream in silence, relishing in the simple flavor before a blue head of hair popped into his view.

“Hello there!” Morgan’s voice was chipper and light, and Takumi couldn’t help but smile. The petite man had bent himself over their table to get a good view of Takumi’s face. “Sorry if I’m interrupting your date, but I thought I should come over and say hi!” Morgan straightened up, delicately resting his hands behind his back. Takumi’s face went red with the implication of a date, while Hinata just cracks an amused grin.

“We aren’t on a date or anything like that.” Takumi clarified quickly. Morgan looks slightly confused, but Takumi swings the subject away from Morgan’s assumption with ease. “What are you doing here anyways? Are you by yourself?” 

“Nope!” Morgan’s smile returns, and he points to the ice cream store where Takumi can see  Lucina looking through the display case. Owain is also present, ordering ice cream from the register. “My sister and cousin wanted ice cream,” Morgan starts. “So I came with them to make it a family event and also take some selfies.”

“Cousin?” 

“Yeah, Owain is my dad’s sister’s son.”

“Really? You guys look nothing alike.”

“Yep! I’ll show you!” Morgan chirps, pulling out his phone and pulling up a picture. He hands the phone to Takumi. The picture that he chose looks like a family picture from Christmas, with three people in the photo. “This,” He points to the blue haired man in the middle, with hair just a shade darker than Morgan’s own. He’s wearing a tacky sweater with green text on a red background, and he’s got his arms around both of the other two figures in the photo. “Is my dad, Chrom. And this,” He points to a silver haired man who’s wearing a significantly less tacky sweater and a santa hat. He’s sitting snug underneath the Chrom’s arm, with one hand disappearing behind Chrom and the other holding up a Christmas ornament. “Is my papa, Robin. And this lady right here,” He points to a blonde woman, dressed in a fancy Christmas dress. She’s holding some sort of fake bug or something, and she looks about ready to unleash it on any unsuspecting person that crosses her path. “Is Owain’s mom, Aunt Lissa.” 

Takumi looks between Owain and the photo of his mother before he hands Morgan’s phone back to him. 

“I still don’t really see a family resemblance…” Takumi trailed off as Owain approached with Lucina in tow. The black haired man had one arm slung around Lucina, and the other carefully holding two cones of strawberry ice cream in one hand. 

“Fear not, cousin of mine!” Owain’s booming voice made its way over to Takumi’s table, and Morgan visibly tensed. When he was close enough, Owain threw his other arm around Morgan’s shoulder, offering him one of the two cones. “I bought you ice cream, my dearest Morgan.” Owain’s smile was bright and contagious, and Morgan couldn’t help but laugh.

As Morgan took the ice cream, Takumi watched the scene unfold. He realized, with a start, that this looked exactly like the cheesy christmas photo that Morgan had shown him. One rambunctious, over-the-top man, sidled by two people dear to him, one refined and one mischievous. The family resemblance was astounding now that he could see it in action.

“Ah, Takumi.” Lucina gave a slight wave from under Owain’s arm, still nibbling at her own cone of ice cream. Owain’s head perked up at the mention of Takumi’s name.

“Oh, hey my dude. I didn’t even see you there.” He gave a wide grin, releasing his two cousins so he could eat his own ice cream cone as he turned to Hinata. “‘Sup bro?” The question was enunciated with a head nod, and Hinata grinned back, flashing a peace sign up at Owain.

“Wait wait,” Takumi cut in, looking between the two. “How do you two know each other?” Hinata looked up at Owain from his seat.

“Owain saved me,” Hinata crooned, clasping his hands together and batting his long eyelashes. “My hero.”

“That’s right!” Owain shouted, and Takumi watched in fascination as both Lucina and Morgan simultaneously covered their ears. “I, Owain Dark, helped my comrade escape the clutches of the sorceress of the kendo room.”

“Sorceress?” Takumi raised an eyebrow, noting how Lucina was pinching the bridge of her nose. Morgan was licking at his ice cream absentmindedly, having drowned the noise out by putting some ear plugs in.

“Severa was going to beat me up, so Owain distracted her while I ran.” 

“Oh boy, she was so mad at you.” Owain was still shouting, and Lucina flinched once more.

“Owain, volume please.” 

“Right, sorry Luci.” He smiled sheepishly at her before he turned back to Hinata, taking the volume down a notch before continuing. “You should really just leave her alone, my bro. If you keep going for her, she’s going to nail you.”

“What if I want her to nail me?” Takumi rolled his eyes, noting with amusement that Morgan did the same.

“No, bro, that came out wrong. I meant she’s going to kick your ass.”

“Yeah, honestly, just leave Severa alone.” Morgan piped up, taking out both ear plugs now that his obnoxious cousin had calmed down. Owain just nodded, rubbing his chin before he pointed at Takumi.

“By the way, me and some other buddies are gonna make this whole smash thing a regular thing. Would you be in?” 

“Honestly, it depends.”

“On what?”

“Is Eliwood going to play too?” Owain laughed loudly, squaring his shoulders.

“You don’t have to worry about Eliwood, he’s banned for a while. Or at least until he renounces his Roy ways.”

“Dates and times?” Takumi asked, but Owain just shrugged. 

“Not sure yet, but I’ll come by and let you know when we play.” And with that Owain turned back to Lucina with a cheeky smile and an outstretched hand. “Shall we be off then, my dear cousin?” Lucina nodded and slipped her way under Owain’s arm. Owain stretched his other arm towards Morgan. “And my dearest Morgan, do you wish to depart?”

Morgan shook his head slightly. “You guys go ahead, I’ll catch up in just a moment.” He waited for Lucina and Owain to begin walking before he turned back towards Hinata. He bent over, making sure to be out of hearing range of his sister and cousin before he started to whisper. “Severa,” He started, but paused, checking over his shoulder one more time to make sure they couldn’t hear him. “Severa is gay.” 

Hinata pursed his lips, nodding slightly. “That.. makes a lot of sense.” Morgan straightened up with his characteristic smile.

“Well, I’ll see you guys later!” And with that, Morgan turned to leave, brushing his hand against Takumi’s shoulder and giving it a slight squeeze. A wave of heat pitted itself in Takumi’s stomach, and he could feel his face starting to flush.

It was a couple moments of silence after Morgan left, and Hinata’s smirk got more and more prominent the further away Morgan was.

“Takumi, your face is all red.” Hinata swooned, resting his chin in his hands. “You really are too touch-starved.”

“Quiet Hinata.” Takumi whined, covering his red face in embarrassment.

“Y’know, there’s always room for one more in me and Oboro’s cuddle puddles if you want to join.”

“I know, you’ve only offered it a dozen times.” Takumi wiped at his eyes, sighing once he felt his face cool off. 

“Why don’t you just ask him out? He’s kinda your type, and he seems to like you.” Hinata shrugged, and Takumi’s face flushed red once again.

“He’s not..” Takumi sighed raggedly, wiping his hand down his face. “What exactly do you think my type is?” Hinata tapped his chin in thought for a second before he snapped his fingers with a grin.

“Bookish, round face, may or may not like-slash-be good at strategy games, et cetera, et cetera.” He pulled Takumi’s hands away from his face. “Am I right or am I right?”

Through his blush Takumi managed to say silent before he looked down at his empty ice cream bowl. He stood to throw it away, and Hinata followed obediently.

“I’m right aren’t I? Takumi? Takumi?”   


“Shut up Hinata.” He just sounded so proud of himself. Takumi didn’t have the heart to tell him that he liked his men tall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is a long one, uhh im still trying to figure out just how i actually want to progress this story ( i have a couple things in mind ) but if you guys think im going to slow or too fast it would be much appreciated if you let me know
> 
> Also friendly reminder that Owain has dark hair (his father is lonqu in this story so yeah)
> 
> And thanks for all the kudos and reviews and all the good stuff. ngl thats the shit that motivates me to write this so :)


	7. Chapter 7

Two days was all it took for that stupid nickname to catch on, and Takumi didn’t think he’d ever be upset about something so stupid. Yet, there he was, shooting over and over into the same target without fail, hitting every mark and cursing when his arms gave out under the pressure of the bow. He was unsure of how long he’d been there, but his arms burned and there was sweat pooling on his forehead, so he assumed it had been at least an hour, maybe two.

His hands shook as he reached his quiver, grasping at the fletching of another arrow before the shake of his hands caused him to drop it to the floor. He stared woefully at the arrow for a bit, whining in the back of his throat when he bent down to grab at it. From the corner of his eye he could see one black polished boot, and when he turned, he could see two, sitting in one of the spectator chairs behind him. He had a feeling he already knew who it was, and when he straightened up once more, hand grasping his dropped arrow, his mouth turned up in a sneer.

“What are you doing here Niles?” Takumi turned back to the target, nocking his arrow and firing without hesitation. It hit the outside circle and Takumi grimaced as he glanced at Niles again. The bastard was just sitting there, chin propped up on his hand and eyelids lowered in a seductive look that just made Takumi uncomfortable.

“Watching you.” Was Niles’ only reply, and he uncrossed his legs to lean back, bringing one knee up to rest his chin on. “Please continue.”

“Fuck no, stop being so creepy and go away.” Takumi stalked past Niles’ sitting form to place his bow on the rack.

“Aw, killjoy. You’re no fun.” Niles is standing now, and he’s a good head or so taller than Takumi, and the eyepatch makes him look intimidating, but Takumi doesn’t budge. That one piercing blue eye is giving Takumi shudders down his spine.

“Why are you following me around like this?” He stalked towards the target at the other end of the range, pulling the arrows out one by one. Niles followed behind.

“Why, I would never follow you around, Taco Meat.” Takumi fumed. There was that damned nickname again, and there goes his pride. He turned to point at Niles with an arrow.

“Stop calling me that, you perv!” He could feel his face flush red with anger. Well, he thought it was anger, but it could just as easily been embarrassment. Stupid nickname. He hated it. “If you have nothing of purpose to say to me, then just leave!”

“Something of purpose?” Niles echoed, and Takumi turned back to the target. He pulled one more arrow out before Niles spoke up again. “If I’m not mistaken, your brother wanted me to - how should I say this - uh - take you out.” And the fire in Takumi flared up.

“Take me out, huh?” Takumi dropped his arrows onto the ground, rounding on Niles with his fists raised. “Alright then, if it’s a fight you want, come and get it.” But what he saw on Niles’ face wasn’t pre-fight arrogance, nor was it the overconfident smirk that he usually saw. It was raw red embarrassment.

“Not.. Not like that. That came out wrong.” Niles said, one hand covering his face, but Takumi could see the red tips of his ears, and he eased up on his stance. “He wanted me to take you out to talk to you, one on one.” He looked towards Takumi, attempting to gauge his reaction, and Takumi gaped.

“Talk to me one on one? Why?” He could see Niles flinch, looking everywhere but his eyes.

“He said you should know some stuff. About..” Niles frowned, as if it were difficult to get the words out. Takumi used the time to pick up the arrows off of the floor where he dropped them. It was a good ten seconds, and Niles was looking like he wanted to take what he said back.

“Just spit it out, eye patch.” Takumi’s growl seemed to knock Niles out of whatever trance he had been in, and he glared.

“Kamui wants me to talk to you about Leo.”

* * *

 

_‘Leo he… he had a hard childhood.’_

* * *

 

_‘If he ever stops eating, I need you to tell me. If he stops sleeping, I need you to tell me. If he seems different from usual, I need you to tell me.’_

_‘Why are you asking me to do this.’_

_‘He’s good at hiding when he hurts and he can be extremely self-destructive. He’s learned how to dodge me. It might be easier for you to see the signs before I do because you live with him…. I - I don’t want him to fall apart again.’ Again?_

* * *

_‘I’m asking you to do this as a personal favor. You can say no if you want.’_

_‘My brother wanted you to ask me to do this?’_

_‘Yeah, that’s… what he said anyways. You can say no.’_

_‘... I’ll do it..’_

_‘Thank you Takumi.’_

* * *

He had no idea what kind of childhood Leo had, but it must’ve been bad. Niles didn’t really go into the details of what happened, claiming it wasn’t his story to tell, and Takumi had to give him props for that.

It sure as hell wasn’t his story to tell. It was Leo’s story. And a hell of a story it seemed.

But now he had Niles’ phone number in his phone, which he didn’t particularly want to have. Though it seemed like an important thing to have, even if he'd said no to his _personal favor,_ so he wasn't going to get rid of it.

It was late in the afternoon when Takumi returned to his dorm, stomach full of food. Niles had bought it for Takumi, claiming he owed it to him, whatever that meant, but Takumi wasn’t about to turn down free food.

An energetic yell broke him from his thoughts and he turned towards the common room, hearing the whoops and hollers of a smash bros fight in process. He decided that was far more interesting than a weekend night spent studying.

“Hey nerds.” Was his entrance line as he strode into the common room, but he immediately stopped in his tracks when he saw a familiar head of blonde hair. He cursed when Leo turned towards him, but Leo’s presence wasn’t what froze him. It was… the position.

Leo was sprawled over the couch with his head on the armrest and an arm thrown around Owain, and Owain laying on top of him, back to chest. Inigo was on the floor with his back to the couch and Severa sitting on the opposite armrest, both looking very unperturbed by the two on the couch.

Well, now they were all looking at him. Say something, fuck.

“That’s some of the gayest shit I’ve ever seen.” Takumi bit his cheek as Leo scowled over the couch at him.

“You’re just jelly I’ve got myself a cuddle partner and you don’t.” He stuck his tongue out and Takumi scowled to try to hide his blush.

“You’re free to join in dude.” Owain said from Leo’s chest, and Takumi just stared at him. Free to join what? The cuddling? Because he definitely wouldn’t mind that. Hinata had said he was touch-starved, so maybe some cuddling wouldn’t be too bad - it was just very unexpected coming from -

“Extra controller. Leo’s not playing right now, so we don’t need to swap off.” Severa piped up from the other armrest, holding out a controller towards Takumi and halting his traitorous thoughts. The game. Of course, they meant the game.

“Thanks.” He managed to squeak out, dropping down in front of the armrest the Leo was lying on, trying to ignore the weird look from Inigo to his left.

As the map was loading, Leo’s hand came down on top of Takumi’s head. Not too hard, but not light enough that Takumi couldn’t just brush it off as random. And the hand was still there, petting through his hair like it was supposed to be some sort of comforting gesture. It only made Takumi’s flame-red face and stomach butterflies worse.

“Is this okay?” Leo whispered to him, too low for Inigo or Severa to hear, and he emphasized his question with a small tug. The fingers there tangled with his hair, the nails trailing along his scalp, and he couldn’t help but give a small affirmative nod. They stayed there, Leo’s hand petting and pulling at Takumi’s hair lightly, just little movements that no one else really noticed, but it those same movements were driving Takumi wild.

* * *

 

He lost every game he played, and everyone seemed to notice but said nothing. It didn’t matter though, because that foreign hand in his hair was the best thing he’d felt in a while.

Severa was the first to leave, claiming early morning fencing workouts, then it was Inigo, who claimed to have to call his mother.

Once they were gone, Leo’s grip on his head vanished, and for a second he thought he was safe before two legs bracketed his shoulders where he sat. One was Leo’s leg, black socks paired with black jeans, and the other was Owain and his shitty socks and sandals getup. The heat as they pressed against him was nice.

There was a conversation going on just above him, but he only caught snippets of it through the haze of the previous hairpetting escapade. Man, that fucked him up in all the best ways.

“- sound okay, Takumi?” Leo asked, and he nudged his left shoulder with his knee. Takumi just looked up at him with a confused frown.

“Marth only battle.” Owain said from his right, and he nodded and picked Marth.

“ _Hero-king_ Marth, you heathen.” Leo said snidely, quickly choosing the stage to start the fight.

* * *

 

It was pretty even, all things considered, though Takumi’s face never seemed to cool off, he could usually play it off as anger at the game. But it was Leo’s comment, halfway through the eleventh round, that stopped play altogether. The other two groaned in annoyance when Takumi paused the game himself, turning all the way around to look up at Leo.

“What did you say?”

“Huh?” Leo rose an eyebrow, looking more and more confused by the second. “What are you talking about?”

“You said something about being gay?” Takumi said, and Owain groaned as he flopped back against the couch, as if he knew the game wouldn’t be unpaused for a while.

“You mean when I called Hero-king Marth my ‘smol gay’?” Leo asked, tilting his head as he looked between the TV and Takumi.

“Yeah, but Marth wasn’t gay.” Takumi said. “He was married to Caeda of Talys.”

“Uh, have you ever heard of political marriages?” Leo scoffs, throwing his hands in the air. “I bet you’re one of those people who buys that ‘Hero-king Marth and Caeda power couple’ schtick, am I right?”

“Fuck yeah I am, Marth and Caeda were the O.G. power couple.” Takumi knows he’s shouting, but he can’t bring himself to care, and the flush on his face is finally from anger instead of embarrassment.

“Are you kidding me? Hero-king Marth was totally in love with Sage Merric! It’s totally in all his letters!”

“Don’t you think you’re reading a little into that! And Sage Merric was in love with his _sister_!”

“You wanna bet on that?” Leo’s smirking, and Takumi wants to just wipe it right off his face. _With a kiss_ , shit, no, stupid brain, stop that! Holy fuck, where did _that_ come from?!

“You’re on!”

“Guys, guys.” Owain pipes up from the back of the couch, groaning as he snaps his neck back to look at the two of them. “If you really care that much, Lucina is basically an expert at anything Hero-king related.”

“How ‘expert’ are we talking?” Leo asks, and Owain smirks.

“She’s very, _very_ obsessed with the Hero-king.”

* * *

 

It’s a brisk walk down the hall and one loud knock later that Lucina opens her door. She looks confused between the both of them, fuming and scowling, and Takumi understands why she leads the conversation with “There are no other rooms available.”

“This isn’t about the room arrangements.” Leo assures her, and Lucina lets out a visible exhale.

“Oh thank god.” She says, and looking relieved and then immediately worried. “If someone clogged another toilet, I swear to god-”

“It’s nothing like that!” Takumi can’t help but laugh. This poor girl. “We actually have some questions about Hero-king Marth, if you don’t mind.” And just like that Lucina’s eyes light up.

“Ask away!” She says, and she looks so ready and happy to answer that Takumi immediately lays it on her.  
  
“Did Marth love Caeda or Merric?” He asks, and both him and Leo lean in towards Lucina in suspense for the answer.

Lucina just blinks once or twice and then smiles. “Yes.” The vague answer confuses them.

“What do you mean ‘yes’?” Leo asks, his brow furrowing. “It wasn’t a yes or no question.” Lucina’s smile just widens.

“I mean he loved them both.” She says, and Takumi and Leo both curse to themselves.

“No, I mean, which did he love _romantically_?” Takumi adds, and Lucina’s smile turns into a half smirk.

“Both. Records show that Hero-king Marth had multiple partners at the same time, and most were either close friends from childhood, like Merric and Caeda, or people he met during the war, like Navarre or Linde.”

“So, the Hero-king had.. a harem?” Leo looks like he’s having trouble processing this, and Lucina’s smirk has instantly turned into a full-fledged frown.

“The Hero-king’s romantic relationships were not a harem!” Both Takumi and Leo flinch as Lucina crosses her arms over her chest. “It’s most likely that he was polyamorous. It was common of most of the Archanean nobility to have more than one partner, so it would’ve been accepted in that time period too. The word harem suggests that his partners were forced into it, but from what we’ve uncovered, Marth and several of his significant others had a large romantic polyamorous relationship that spanned half the continent. And polyamory is _not_ the same as a harem!”

“Right right, I’m sorry, I know that.” Leo hurriedly apologizes, and his face is all red now. “So Hero-king Marth was both bisexual and polyamorous.” Leo’s muttering to himself, and Lucina nods slightly, still looking just as pissed as she did before. “Interesting, very interesting.” Lucina’s phone buzzed, and she cursed through her teeth when she looked at the text.

“If that’s all you guys wanted to ask, I’ll have to excuse myself.” She grabbed a couple objects around her dorm, then closed and locked her door. “My idiot brother lost track of the time at the library and is scared of walking outside by himself when it’s this dark. If you guys ever have any questions regarding the Hero-king, don’t be afraid to ask!” And she was gone, practically running down the stairs.

Takumi turned to Leo. He was still just muttering about records or something, and Takumi cleared his throat.

“So I guess no one won the bet?” He asked, and Leo scoffed.

“We didn’t even shake on it! Not a real bet if you don’t shake.” Takumi couldn’t help the smile that came to his face.

“I’ll keep that in mind for next time.”


	8. Chapter 8

The fall winds were gearing up, and though Takumi had to trade in his tank tops and shorts for sweaters and jeans, he couldn’t find it in himself to be disappointed. Big, thick, fluffy sweaters were always his favorite, even if they did seem to swallow his arms in the sleeves. Oboro had once asked if he needed her to make some new sweaters, presumably ones that actually fit, but Takumi had gone on quite a rant about how amazing oversized clothes were.

The first round tests were also coming soon, and Takumi is slowly starting to realize that he hadn’t studied enough. He’s anxious about them, and while exercise would help him with his frazzled nerves, he’d feel much better about it if he cut workouts from his schedule and put all his focus on studying. His muscles and definition might suffer a little, but he could keep his grades from doing the same.

It’s as he’s opening his door, once again intent on studying that he comes face to face with a scene of interest. Leo’s standing in the middle of their dorm room with a purple-haired woman standing over him, pressing his cheeks together with both her hands. And she’s not just any purple-haired woman either, she’s _the_ purple-haired woman from the bakery on main street, the one he’s a regular at.

It takes him a minute to come up with the name _Camilla,_ and now both her and Leo are staring back at him.

He gets to see Leo’s flush rise up from his neck, watch his ears turn bright red, but suddenly Camilla’s in front of him. He was so focused on Leo’s face that he didn’t see her move. She’s so much taller than he is, even taller than Leo with those damned heels on, and he has to crane his neck to see her face when she talks because she’s so close.

“Ah, my darling Takumi! Leo’s told me so much about you.” She croons, twisting a strand of lilac hair between her fingers. Her smile is bright, and he returns it with nervous grin. Somewhere behind her Leo is cursing, and when Takumi glances towards him, Camilla’s sweet smile turns into a knowing grin. “Watch this,” is all she says before she turns back towards Leo and snaps her fingers at him. Leo shuffles a couple of papers on his desk, pointedly ignoring Camilla entirely until she snaps her fingers again, then he sighs and steps towards the two of them, frowning when Camilla grips his face once more. She kneads and presses his cheeks together, and Takumi never realized just how much of a baby face Leo actually was.

“Say it.” Camilla demands, and Leo just rolls his eyes. He lifts an arm to knock away her hands, but they don’t budge. She must have some amazing grip strength.

“Stop it, Camilla please.” And Leo’s whining now. Takumi isn’t really sure what’s going on, but it’s very amusing to watch Leo squirm around awkwardly. “Stop, it’s so humiliating.” He pleads, but Camilla just gives him a look and he stops complaining.

“Say it.” Camilla says again, demanding fingers pressed tight into his cheeks, and Leo looks away from Takumi.

“I’m a guppy.” He starts, glancing at Takumi with a pitiful gaze, but looking away just as quickly. “Guppies don’t smile, but I can.” And then he smiles, or he tries to anyways. Camilla’s fingers are still squeezing his cheeks, forcing out the most gut-wrenchingly funny expression he’s ever seen on a human face before, and Takumi’s literally two seconds away from dying of laughter. Tears slip from his eyes, and his face is turning red. He’s losing control of his breath and bending over his chest, but seeing Leo’s baby face squished and squirming was one of the funniest things he’s ever seen. And it makes all the ugly laughing worth it in the end.

Camilla lets go of Leo’s face by the time Takumi can stand up straight again, and Leo looks thoroughly embarrassed, but that’s not his problem. He reminds himself that it was Leo that started the whole ‘Taco Meat’ debacle, and this is just his revenge. It briefly runs through his mind that he should just start referring to Leo as ‘guppy’ but then he looks up at Leo’s face one more time and the nickname ‘tomato’ just kind of comes to him.

Leo’s face is round and red and pouting, embarrassed and angry and mortified, and the word ‘tomato’ just fits that somehow.

Camilla leaves a couple minutes after Takumi calms down, but not before whispering words that he can just barely hear. He’s sitting at his desk, looking over his notes, and Leo is at the door with her. She’s got her hands on his face again, but it’s not forceful, and she’s cupping his face like a mother would.

“You’re so smart, Leo.” She says, and Takumi tries his hardest not to listen to the rest, but his curiosity gets the better of him. He glances at the two from the corner of his eye and Leo’s back has gone rigid and his hands are balled into fists, like he’s mad or nervous or some other emotion that Takumi can’t place. “So smart. You can do anything you put your mind to. Try to remember that and use that big brain of yours, okay sweetie?” She sweeps his hair off his forehead to place a kiss there, and then leaves. Leo watches her go, gripping so tightly to the doorframe that his knuckles are turning white.

It’s a minute or two of Leo staring down the hallway where Camilla left, and it’s all silence. It’s like Leo’s in a trace, and Takumi has to be the one to knock him out of it.

“So,” He starts, and Leo visibly jumps in the doorway, turning to look at Takumi while he continues. “How do you know Camilla?”

“Big sister.” Leo grunts as he closes the door to their room and slinks back to his own desk. He makes himself look busy by shuffling about the same stack of papers from earlier.

“Why was she here?” Takumi says without thinking. “If I’m allowed to ask.” He adds.

“I was asking if she had a job opening.” Leo says, and Takumi turns back to his own desk, uncapping a highlighter to markup his own notes.

“Need the money?” He asks, and he can practically hear Leo sigh in annoyance. 

“Yeah, I do.” Takumi puts his highlighter down and flips around to sit backwards in his chair, fixing the back of Leo’s head with a disbelieving look. If he was going for a job at Camilla’s bakery, wouldn’t he need to know how to bake?

“Do you even know how to bake?” He asks, smirking when the flush returns to the tips of Leo’s ears.

“I -” Leo swallows audibly, and he turns to side eye Takumi. “She has a side job, and I was asking about that.”

“Oh, well, what’s she do as a side job?” Leo turns away from him, busying himself with his own highlighter.

“None of your business, Takumi.”

Takumi blinks at the back of Leo’s head. He knows he crossed a line somewhere, maybe it was the baking thing, but he’s not really sure. The noise as he turns back to his desk seems so loud in his ears. It’s quiet between the two of them aside from the sounds of turning pages and keyboard keys.

* * *

The hours pass by in a flash, and suddenly it’s late, far later than Takumi expected it to be when he checked the clock. The dining hall closes soon, and he’s suddenly reminded of how hungry he is with the gurgling his empty stomach is making. He curses as he stands from his seat, grabbing his shoes to pull them on, but then freezes when he looks towards Leo.

He’d been here before Takumi had been, sitting in his room and studying, and Takumi had been there for five hours at the very least. Leo had to be hungry too, there’s no way he wasn’t.

“Leo,” He called, waiting for Leo to pull his head away from his notebook. When he did, Takumi jerked his head towards the door. “Come on.”

Leo raised an eyebrow. “And where are you going?”

“Dining hall, and you’re coming with me.” Takumi said as he pulled on one of his oversized sweaters. “They close in ten minutes and I’m hungry, so let’s go!”

Leo just turned back to his notebook. “I’m not really hungry, just go without me.” He said, and Takumi almost let him get away with it, but Niles’ words echoed in his mind.

_If he ever stops eating…_

Takumi straightened up with a frown. There had to be a way to get Leo to go with him. Think, dammit.

And then inspiration struck. “It’s Wednesday, Leo.” He smirked when Leo looked at him from over his shoulder.

“Yeah, what of it?”

“Wednesday is soup day.” Takumi said, watching Leo’s usual deadpan expression turn into excitement. “They might have tomato soup.”

That was the fastest Takumi’s ever seen Leo get ready.

* * *

 

“You lied to me.” Leo whines, eying the soup station with distaste. “You promised me there’d be tomato soup but there isn’t any. I feel so betrayed.”

“I promised you jack shit. I said they _might_ have it, I never said they definitely would, tomato face.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so short! im glad you guys like the cuddles and the touchstarvedness last chapter, cuz it was fun to write!


	9. Chapter 9

“Y’know, that test was way easier than I thought it would be.” Takumi says, stretching his arms over his head. He lets out a sigh of relief as his back cracks loudly before he looks towards Leo. They’d just taken the first test for the evening lecture, and the last scheduled test before fall break, and Takumi feels like he’d never looked forward to anything more.

The smell of home cooking, the sound of laughter and video games and family- he’s just itching to go home, even if it’s only for a weekend.

Leo just rolls his eyes, giving Takumi a good-natured nudge. “If you wanted it to be hard, you shouldn’t have studied for three days straight.” A laugh bursts from Takumi’s chest, and Leo smiles in turn.

“Hey, I’m definitely not complaining!” He says as they pass by one of the several small fields on campus. The sky is dark, but, next to Leo, he feels safe. When he looks up, his blond hair is positively glowing in the streetlights, and it only accentuates the roundness of his stupidly adorable face. There’s a couple people playing on the field, tossing a ball around, but Leo steals up all his attention.

He's been meaning to ask the blond if he wants to meet his friends, maybe hang out a bit with them just to see if they hit it off as friends. He's just never gotten a chance to ask, between studying for the upcoming tests and hanging out with the Smash Bros group, and now seems like a perfect opportunity to ask, and the night air is cool on his face. 

“Hey, Leo?” He says as he twiddles his thumbs together, shuffling his feet as the other turns to face him with a raised eyebrow. “I was wondering-”

“Heads up!” Someone shouts from the field, and Takumi barely has time to blink before a ball pelts Leo right in the nose. He starts to fall backwards, hand clutching his nose, but Takumi is quick to steady him. The group from the field is running towards them, but Takumi is completely focused on Leo.

“Shit, is your nose okay?” Takumi asks quickly, carefully pulling Leo’s hand away to examine his nose. “Is it broken?”

“It’s not broken.” Leo says, sniffing through the small amount of blood that’s gathering in his nostrils. He thumbs away some of the blood just as the group comes to a stop before him.

“Sorry Leo, are you good?” Someone says loudly, and when Takumi turns, Owain is beside him, checking on Leo’s nose as Takumi keeps him steady. Leo nods, and Takumi’s cheeks heat up at Leo leans into him. “Damn, are you bleeding?” He’s practically shouting now, but a girl behind him is quick to shush him, and, to Takumi’s dismay, he realizes he recognizes her.

Her pink hair and dainty hands and black jacket. It’s Felicia, of course it’s Felicia. Takumi curses his luck.

Leo groans from his side, pinching his nose shut and tilting his head back so the blood doesn’t ruin his clothes. “What kind of ball even was that?” He asks, but he sounds so nasally with his nose pinched and Takumi can’t help the small smile that comes to his face.

“Bludger.” Owain says, and Takumi watches as Felicia lingers around the two. It seems Leo hasn’t noticed her yet, but her hover behavior annoys him to no end, and he’s still not sure why.

“Bludger?” Takumi asks, and Owain nods.

“It’s, uh, y’know,” Owain starts to say, using his hands to speak. “It’s like, from that one game from that book series, with the - the br-broomsticks and -”

“It’s quidditch.” Leo pipes up from his side, and Owain’s mouth instantly snaps shut, a flush that Takumi can only perceive as embarrassment covering his cheeks. “Y’know from Harry Potter? Yeah, it’s quidditch.”

“Oh.” Takumi blinks,

“I-it’s fun, okay?” Owain whines, and Felicia chooses that moment to speak.

“It really is fun, you should try it out sometime!” She says as she smiles up at Leo from her place at Owain’s side. Leo, in turn, smiles back, though it seems more apologetic.

“I’m sure it is, but I don’t really, y’know, play sports.” He says. “It’s not really my thing.” But Felicia pouts, and Takumi feels Leo sigh more than he hears it.

“Sports aren’t really my thing either, especially with the whole hands thing.” Felicia says, holding up her hands for a second, but it's long enough for Takumi to notice a slight tremble, before she lowers them. “But I really enjoy it, and I think you’d really enjoy it too!”

Leo’s smile turns genuine quicker than Takumi can blink, and Owain must notice Takumi’s discomfort, because he’s quick to grab the bludger from Leo’s feet.

"See you later Takumi." He whispers on his way up, winking at him before he stands up straight, holding the bludger over his head. “Alright guys, time to finish up the game! What’s the score?” He shouts, and he begins to lead his small group away from Leo and Takumi. Felicia follows close behind, waving at Leo with a bright smile. Leo waves back, and Takumi rolls his eyes as he pulls Leo along, hand still on his waist where he’d had it when he was steadying him.

It’s a couple minutes later when Leo bites his lip, and Takumi hears a deep chuckle from him. “Takumi.” Leo says, and Takumi can practically hear the smirk in his voice. “Your arm is around my waist.”

Without missing a beat, Takumi flushes. “It’s a mistake!” He shouts.

“.. It’s still there.” Leo says.

“It’s still a mistake!” He jumps away from Leo as if burned, face red hot with a blush, but when he looks up at Leo, the blond is trying his best to hold in his laughter.

They both crack up laughing at the same time, and Takumi has to wipe his tears away before they can keep walking. They keep laughing hysterically the whole way back to their dorm.

* * *

The next morning is move out day, the ‘get your important and expensive things and don’t come back until Monday’ day, and Takumi is so ready to go home. A month of dining hall food has made him crave anything with half a pinch of flavor, and although he would never say it to her face, he really misses Sakura. He’s ready to go back home.

But Leo isn’t like that. He’s chewing his lip, and scratching his arm, and shuffling his papers around again and again. It’s easy to see just how anxious he is, but Takumi doesn’t know what to do. He thinks that maybe he should go get Niles, but then there’s shouting from the hallway, and Takumi watches as Leo instantly perks up.

Leo’s got a grin on his face as he makes his way towards the door, and Takumi follows behind him, eager to find the source of the shouting, but when Leo opens their door and steps out into the hallway, the shouting stops, replaced by a few short small gasps.

Someone rushes to hug Leo in the doorway, a petite middle aged blond woman in a bright yellow sundress who holds him tight to her. When she pulls back and Takumi can finally see her face, he realizes with a start that he’s seen her somewhere before, but he can’t quite pinpoint who she is.

“Oh my goodness, you’ve grown so much!” She says with a smile, and Leo smiles back as she looks him up and down. Her face twists into a worried look, and she grabs his cheek, squeezing between two of her delicate fingers. “Have you been eating enough? You look like you’ve lost weight.”

“I’ve been eating, I promise. Niles and Takumi make sure of it.” Leo says with a forced grin, glancing back at Takumi. The woman looks at him too, eyes widening as she takes him in, and then a smile graces her lips again.

“And you must be Takumi!” She says excitedly, holding out her hand. “It’s so great to finally meet you! My son’s told me so much about you!” Takumi hesitantly steps from his room, taking her hand. The woman's hand grips tightly to his, giving it an enthusiastic shake.

Admittedly, she looks like Leo. A lot, mostly between the blond hair and the chubby face, but he still has no idea who she is, or how Leo knows her. She did say something about a son so maybe she’s Leo's mom?

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mrs..” And he trails off, hoping that the woman won’t be too offended that she has to fill in the blanks for him.

She doesn’t seem concerned in the slightest, which is good for Takumi, and she even smiles sheepishly back at him. “Sorry, I got a bit carried away, huh? My name’s Elisabeth Ke’ri, but you can call me Lissa. I’m Owain’s mom, and sometimes Leo’s when he wants to admit it.”

“When he wants to admit it?” Takumi lets go of Lissa’s hand to look up at Leo, noting the red cheeks, and when Leo sees him staring, he coughs into his fist.

“I called her mom once when I was a kid, and she won’t let it go now.” He says, and Lissa laughs, putting her hands on her hips defiantly.

“You were fifteen when you starting calling me mom, don’t act like you were a child.” She says, and Owain chooses that moment to barge out of his room, carrying a giant desktop computer in his arms. Inigo is right behind him, carrying his own belongings in a bag over his shoulder, and earbuds stuffed tight into his ears.

“Mom!” Owain shouts, and three of them flinch at the volume.

Lissa turns, giving Owain an annoyed look. “Pumpkin.” She starts, sighing slightly. “What have I told you about shouting indoors?”

His eyebrows knit together instantly and his mouth snaps shut, shifting the computer uncomfortably in his arms. He rocks forward and back on his heels, looking like a guilty puppy. “Sorry, Mom.” He says.

Lissa sighs again, relaxing at the shoulders slightly. “It’s okay, honey. Are you both ready to go?” Owain nods, and so does Inigo, who shifts his bag from the right shoulder to the left. She claps her hands together, smiling once again. “Well, why don’t you start heading down to the car, okay?” She says as she fishes the key from her purse, handing them to Inigo.

“Thanks Aunt Lissa.” He says, and then they both turn, trudging towards the stairwell while Lissa stays behind to hug Leo one last time.

“Remember that you always have a place in my house, okay?” She says, and her eyebrows raise expectantly. 

“Yes, I know.” He says, but Lissa doesn’t look convinced.

“Yes _what_?” Her eyes twinkle mischievously, and Takumi can’t help but chuckle at what comes next.

“Yes _mom_.”

* * *

"Why does Owain shout all the time?” Takumi asks once Lissa has left, and Leo looks rather annoyed at the question, but shrugs regardless.

“It’s not _all_ the time, but he has trouble controlling his voice because of his ADHD.”

“Really? He’s got ADHD?” Though it does make sense, with the loud voice and the over-excitable personality. The more Takumi thinks about it, the more it fits into place. 

“Yeah, he’s got, like, some auditory issues that go along with it too. Trouble processing words sometimes, and stuff like that.” Leo says, raising an eyebrow. “He didn’t tell you?” Takumi shakes his head, and Leo frowns. “Weird, that’s usually the first thing he tells people.”

“Guess it never came up?” Takumi says, and Leo shrugs again. They settle into comfortable silence after that, playing on their phones as both anxiously await their trip back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, so i didnt realize people still read this? but uh, ill try to keep up with it more now that i know that people do. 
> 
> ive made ke'ri Lissa's last name because I needed another chonsin name, and ke'ri was lonqus like friend or something so i just said fuck it and went with it. and as someone with ADHD, I generally think Owain has a lot of difficulty with voice modulation, auditory processing, and has some trouble with rejection sensitivity (rsd) (mostly because thats what I have trouble with and i want a character to imprint on buttt w.e)
> 
> also, if anyone's interested, here's my [tumblr.](http://switchblades34.tumblr.com/) tbh its probably just some gay shit, but you can visit if you want
> 
> also I love lissa and you should too. AND AS A NOTE IMMA GO THROUGHA ND REPLY TO EVERY SINGLE COMMENT RIGHT NOW MARK MY WORDS


	10. Chapter 10

“Do you think,” Leo starts, and Takumi looks up just in time to see Leo’s tongue swipe over his red bottom lip, soothing the aggravation that came with hours of gnawing and anxious biting. “Do you want to exchange phone numbers?” He asks, and the nervousness hidden in Leo’s eyes is only amplified by the way his eyes dart over the papers on his desk, only meeting Takumi’s for a brief second before Leo looks away.

And it takes him a moment, but Takumi suddenly realizes that he doesn’t have his roommate's phone number. _How could he not have his roommate’s phone number?_

“Yeah, I think we should.” Takumi says, taking his headphones out of his phone and holding out it out to Leo. He watches as Leo’s eyes light up. “It’s gonna be weird not seeing you for a couple days.” He says as he places the headphones on his desk before turning to take Leo’s phone from his outstretched hand.

“Aww, are you going to miss me?” Leo teases.

Takumi scoffs. “As if.” He says, but he instantly regrets it, watching as Leo’s shoulders slump, and he tries his best to verbally backpedal. “I’m just joking.” He says hurriedly, but it does nothing to alleviate Leo’s hunched shoulders or the way his leg bounces against the chair anxiously.

“Yeah.” Leo responds, but his voice sounds distant, like he’s not all there, and when they exchange phones once more, Takumi looks down to see Leo’s full name in his phone.

“Leo Astarot?” He reads aloud, and Leo scrunches his nose as Takumi reads out his own last name. He looks so unbearably uncomfortable that Takumi himself feels anxious. “You can, uh, text me anytime you want.” He stumbles through the words, searching desperately for a sign that Leo understands.

When a smile finally breaks on Leo’s lips, Takumi lets himself relax. “I’ll keep that in mind when I drunk text you at three in the morning.”

Takumi’s about to complain, to tell him off for making such a bad joke, but his phone starts to ring before he can. When he looks, he’s surprised to see that it’s Mikoto, and he answers it with an eyebrow raised.

“Hey mom.” He says, watching woefully as Leo turns back to his desk to study his open notes. “What’s up?”

“Hello sweetie.” She greets him, and Takumi can hear the sigh in her voice and the sound of cars in the background. “I’m almost there, but Kamui isn’t answering his phone. Can you make sure he’s ready to go for me?”

“Sure, I’ll do that.” Takumi says, and he notices the way Leo perks up at his desk. “I’ll see you in a bit.” Leo turns to face him as he hangs up the call, one eyebrow raised questioningly, and Takumi sighs. “Kamui isn’t answering his phone, so I have to go find him.”

Leo’s brazen smirk makes Takumi gulp, forcing down feelings he knows he shouldn’t be having. “I bet I know what he’s doing. In his room. With Niles.” His voice is low, deep with feigned intrigue, but that growl should not be sending shivers down his spine like this. Takumi can’t help it, gods, he’s so gay.

_And for your straight roommate too. A shame really._

He forces those thoughts out of his head as quickly as he can, turning, instead, to glare at Leo.

“If you’re implying what I think you’re implying, you better hope for Niles’ sake that you’re wrong.” Takumi smirks back at Leo. “If that rat bastard has even one hand on my brother, he’s a dead man.”

But Leo doesn’t look fazed in the slightest. “I’ll bet you ten bucks they’re doing it right now.” He says, digging into his desk drawer to find a ten dollar bill.

Takumi waits a couple seconds just to see if Leo is bluffing, but when the offer isn’t rescinded and the ten dollar bill is flashed in his face again, he relents. “You’re on.” He says, and Leo’s smile brightens even further as Takumi rummages around his bag to pull out his wallet. But the look of confusion that passes over Leo’s face when Takumi extends his hand amuses him to no end. “You have to shake on it for it to be a real bet right? So shake.”

* * *

 With his ear pressed against the door, all Takumi can hear are creaking noises coming from Kamui’s room, like someone’s rocking a bed with slow, purposeful thrusts, and Takumi suddenly fears for both his brother and his sanity. He takes a moment to just rest his forehead against the door and pray for his own mental wellbeing, but Leo is poking and prodding his side, urging him to open it.

Takumi bats his hands away. “Stop.” He hisses, but when he turns his back to Kamui’s door, Leo’s standing over him with that same wide smirk, one hand resting on the door beside his head in a way that makes Takumi shrink. He’s so much taller that Takumi, and so close too. His eyes are dark when Takumi finally meets them.

“Are you going to open it, or should I?” Leo says, and Takumi takes a moment to blink, reveling in the sheer closeness before he turns back to the door with a grimace.

“I’ll do it, but do you think I should I just knock?” He whispers, trying to ignore the heat at his back as he presses his ear against the door once more. The creaking has stopped, and the only thing Takumi can hear are muffled voices and soft footsteps.

The door Takumi’s leaning against opens suddenly, and Takumi falls face first into Niles’ chest. The flush on his cheeks grows as Niles holds him for a moment, just as surprised as Takumi. It takes him a moment, but then Niles sets him upright, and Takumi finally has a chance to look around.

One side of the room is immaculate, with not a single thing out of place. Papers are organized, stacked, and neat on the desk, and the floor is clean and mopped so well that Takumi can see his face in the reflection.

Even Niles himself smells nice, like cologne and something distinctly earthy. He’s still fully dressed, much to Takumi’s relief, but when he chances a peek at Niles’ expression, he’s taken aback by a smirk so similar to Leo’s that it makes his stomach twist.

“And what are you two doing outside my room? I hope you aren’t having too much fun.” Niles purrs, but Takumi peeks over his shoulder to see the other side of the room. It’s trashed, with clothes Takumi recognizes strewn all over the floor, and, in the middle of it all is Kamui, hurriedly folding and stuffing clothes into a laundry bag, so lost in his own mind that he doesn’t seem to realize Takumi is there.

“Kamui.” He calls, and when his brother looks at him, he seems frazzled, but he acknowledges him all the same.

“What’s up?” Kamui says as he raises an eyebrow, and Takumi frowns.

“Mom said she tried to call you, but you weren’t picking up.” Takumi says, and Kamui’s face drops quite suddenly.

“She did?” He asks worriedly, and Takumi nods, watching as Kamui quickly folds the rest of his sheets up and stuffs them into the laundry bag. “Is she almost here?”

“Yeah, did you not pack yesterday?” Takumi asks, and Kamui shakes his head quickly, fitting a couple of textbooks into the same laundry bag he’d been putting his dirty clothes into, and Takumi grimaces.

“Sorry, I was.. Preoccupied.” Kamui says, and Takumi tries his hardest to ignore Niles’ stifled laugh. “Just help me please, I’m begging you!”

“Alright, alright, you’re such an airhead.” He says, In the background, Takumi’s faintly aware of Niles whispering something and Leo’s soft chuckle, but he’s more focused on helping his brother pack up the rest of his stuff to bother with them.

But then he remembers the bet and grins. “Hey Leo.” He calls over his shoulder, and Leo stops laughing with Niles in order to focus on Takumi. “I won the bet.” He says, and Leo pales, eyes widening at the realization before he groans, fishing his own ten dollar bill out of his pocket, placing it gently into Takumi’s outstretched hand.

* * *

Mikoto picks them up in front of the dorm, just like she’d dropped them off the first day, and Takumi is quick to call shotgun, only to be met with Kamui’s groans of protest and a dainty laugh from his stepmom. But it’s only as he settles in the front seat that he realizes his headphones are nowhere to be found.

“Hold up.” He says, searching around the floorboards of the car. “I think I left my headphones in my room. Can I go grab them?”

Mikoto sighs slightly, before she nods. “Of course, just please hurry. Sakura has dinner going at home.” Mikoto says, turning away from him to start the car. Takumi jumps out of the car and rushes back into the dorm building.

He takes the stairs two at a time until he’s at the top, standing right outside the door to the third floor hallway, but he freezes up as soon as he hears it.

There’s shouting from behind the door, but not like the shouting from before. This shouting reeks of anger and tension, nothing like the genuine loudness of Owain or the excitability of Lissa. No, this is pure rage.

“I don’t need your pity, Xander!” It’s Leo shouting, and Takumi takes a step away from the door just in time for it to fly open.

There Leo stands, and the anger is so evident on his face, between the furrowed eyebrows and the snarl gracing his lips. But there’s something else there too, some emotion Takumi can’t decipher all twisted up with the anger, but his expression morphs into surprise before Takumi can get a read on it, and his eyes widen in shock.

“Don’t run away from me, Leo!” Someone shouts from the hallway, voice deep and masculine as his footsteps reverberate in the stairwell around Takumi. Leo glances back into the hallway quickly before he steps forward, pushing past Takumi and rushing to the stairs.

The other man, _Xander_ , is in the doorway now, blond hair tousled, but all Takumi can see is the plain hurt there as he tries to follow Leo. But before he knows it, Takumi’s arm shoots out to block Xander, holding him back from Leo as best he can. When Takumi glances back, Leo looks like he’s about ready to cry, standing at the top of the steps.

‘Go.’ He mouths, and Leo gives him a ghost of a smile before he bolts, stumbling down the stairs as Xander stays put behind Takumi’s arm. Takumi takes this time to look up at him, taking in the near permanent frown lines, and blond hair that seems just lighter than Leo’s own. He’s tall, even taller than Leo, and Takumi doesn’t even reach his shoulder.

Xander sighs against his arm, pushing it down until it’s resting against Takumi’s side. He looks broken and annoyed all at the same time, and Takumi can only watch as he strides towards the stairs.

“This is a family matter.” He says pointedly, and Takumi can only watch the back of his head as he descends down the stairs after Leo. That’s really all he can do, and he curses as he turns back towards the hallway to grab his headphones.

And when Takumi finally makes it back to the car with his headphones in tow, Mikoto is still waiting patiently for him and Kamui is playing a game on his phone in the back of the car. As they begin to drive away, Takumi realizes something with a start.

When Leo had opened the door to the stairs, he’d had that twisted expression that Takumi can never seem to decipher, but now he knows. That emotion, the one that Takumi never seems to understand, was insecurity. Leo had looked just as broken as Xander, but it was for a completely different reason. He’d looked so distraught when he looked at Takumi, and now Takumi can’t get that image out of his head, and it eats at him the whole ride home.

* * *

“I’m finally home!” Takumi exclaims as he bursts through the front door, collapsing onto the genkan and spreading out like a cat in the sun. Mikoto gives another dainty laugh, stifled by her hand as she moves past Takumi’s lying form.

Kamui moves past him as well, giving him a smile as he nudges Takumi’s head with his foot. “Come on, lazy bones, you can’t sit here all day.” He says, but Takumi smiles back up at him mischievously.

“And what are you going to do about it?” Takumi asks, watching in delight as Kamui rolls his eyes. His brother plops his laundry bag, packed tight with clothes and books and other miscellaneous items, down onto the floor before he slides down next to him, petting through his long hair.

But the smell of spices and the incescent pattering of feet draws him to stand just in time to see Sakura barreling through the hallway in her pajamas.

“Kamui!” She cries as she jumps into Kamui’s arms. He spins her around just the way she likes it before setting her down. Then she jumps into Takumi’s arms crying, “Takumi!” He squeezes her tight, spinning her around as well, before he puts her down. “Welcome back! Dinner’s almost ready, and Mom let me make it all by myself!” She gushes, turning to head towards the kitchen. Kamui follows close behind, the both of them chattering happily about the amazing smell.

Takumi moves to follow, but he’s stopped in his tracks as a furry tail wraps around his leg and a purr comes from beneath him. When he looks down, his sweet calico cat is arching against his leg, begging for a petting session.

“Fujin!” He exclaims as he swoops down to pick up his crabby old cat. Fujin had to be at least twelve by now, all grumpy grumbles and half-assed protests, but he was also one of the cuddliest calicos Takumi had ever met.

Takumi happily lays in the genkan with Fujin until dinner is ready, petting his cat as the furball lays curled on his chest. The smell of curry and the warmth of his home relax him. He’s so glad to be home even if it’s only for a week.

* * *

He wakes up that night in a panic, complete with a sinking feeling in his gut that’s only overshadowed by the sheer terror that laces itself through his veins and constricts around his lungs like a squeezing snake. The clock on his nightstand says 3:46 AM, but the light is blinding and his phone buzzes quietly, and Takumi somehow knows he won’t be able to sleep much longer anyways.

So he gets up and turns on the light, startling a sleepy Fujin as he does so. He takes the time to pet down the bristled fur of his poor cat as he gets dressed, slowly waking up to the sound of early bird songs and insects cricketing. The panic is leaving him, pushed far enough away so that it might spring up some other time.

His phone buzzes against his nightstand once again, and Takumi picks it up to see that he has four unread texts. He unlocks his phone hurriedly, secretly hoping some of those texts are from Leo.

But none of them are, and Takumi can’t help but be disappointed. The sinking feeling in his stomach returns as he thinks about his roommate, but he forces it down in order to read the texts.

> **Sexy Setsy (3:03 AM):** heard ur back in town
> 
> **Sexy Setsy (3:27 AM):** i get off of work soon wanna hang
> 
> **Sexy Setsy (3:43 AM):** ?
> 
> **Sexy Setsy (3:49 AM):** i know ur awake come hang the gangs all at the barcade hurry up so you dont miss subaki ;))))

Takumi sighs to himself, typing out a reply quickly.

> **Takumi (3:56 AM):** alright alright i’m omw
> 
> **Takumi (3:56 AM):** your name is still sexy setsy in my phone btw
> 
> **Sexy Setsy (3:56 AM):** mornin sunshine, get ur ass over here
> 
> **Sexy Setsy (3:57 AM):** also hin would be proud :DDD

Takumi half smiles at Setsuna’s antics, but the mention of his sister makes his heart clench. Fujin, as if he can sense Takumi’s discomfort, jumps into his lap, and he feels a little better as his cat snuggles up into his neck. It’s not enough to make his grief disappear, but each nuzzle and purr makes him feel like a weight has been lifted from his chest. He’s missed his cat, and his home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, this is kinda late! I wanted to finish this a week ago but school got in the way. also, theres a really cool gamefaqs post on the fates characters last names, which is where i got astarot from. It's a really cool analysis on some last names for the characters, so I would really recommend checking it out if you have the chance.
> 
> hmm, I think hinoka might show up soon, but im not quite sure. the next chapter is just gonna be birthright characters and some leo texts i think, so ill have to find a time to explain all the hinoka stuff...


	11. Chapter 11

The night itself is a calm one. The wind whistles through the trees as Takumi leaves his family’s house, and the chill of the air is only slight as he makes his way downtown. The stars above him shine down and the moon is a bright crescent in the sky; the sun won’t be up for another two hours, so Takumi commits to stargazing as he walks along the empty road. He doesn’t get many opportunities to study the night sky; he sleeps too early and wakes too late to fully appreciate the way the stars look against the backdrop of pitchblack space.

He walks the familiar roads quietly, eyes trained on the sky above before he realizes his feet have brought him to the barcade where he spent his highschool years, playing games on the weekends and sharing a couple of drinks with friends. The building itself hasn’t changed, all brick and neon lights against the rest of the downtown area.

And when he looks, Setsuna is there at the picnic tables out front, a cigarette between her teeth and hand raised in a friendly wave. There’s a smirk hovering on her lips, and she removes the cigarette to bury it in the ashtray. She’s clad in a oversized sweater, much like Takumi, with black leggings and snow boots. It’s the look that his friends have lovingly called the ‘Sexy Setsy’, much like her contact information on his phone.

“It’s about time you showed up, ‘kumi.” She says as she stands to meet him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a tight half hug. “You got some catching up to do, everybody is already pretty smashed.” Takumi groans at the implication.

“You expect me to drink? I just woke up!” He raises an eyebrow as Setsuna drags him towards the door.

“Yup.” Her arm tightens around his shoulders as she puts him in a semi-headlock, ruffling his hair fondly. “You’re at Orochi’s, you’ve gotta drink.”

So Takumi relents, letting Setsuna drag him into the bar by the back of his neck. She smells like smoke and some sort of cologne. Setsuna throws open the doors, only to be stopped in her tracks by a short redhead whose beady eyes feel like their boring into Takumi.

“ID please.” He says, and Takumi blanches because that was the one thing he left at home. But here’s this little doorman, asking for an ID that Takumi doesn’t have.

But Setsuna pipes up from besides him, arm tightening in a move that was no doubt to reassure him. “Oh shoot, I forgot Orochi got a new door boy.” Setsuna says. The boy doesn’t budge, hand still extended towards Takumi.

“I need to see your ID, or I am legally obligated to kick you out, regardless of how old you are.”

“Oh lay off Hayato, ‘kumi’s a friend of the family.” Setsuna really does try her best to convince him, but the doorman just cracks his knuckles. He somehow manages to look intimidating, even when he’s just shy of five feet.

There’s movement in the back near the bar, a glass is dropped somewhere. He hears a shrill shriek that sounds suspiciously like his name, and suddenly Hayato is pushed to the side to make way for Orochi. She rushes to pull him into a hug, squeezing him tight as she buries her head into his shoulder.

“Oh goodness, it’s so good to see you!” She pulls back, a mischievous smile gracing her lips. She rests a hand on his cheek, squeezing gingerly. “Have you grown even taller since I last saw you?”

Takumi frowns, playfully swatting her hand away from his face. “I was here two months ago, Orochi. Y’know, before I left?”

She hums, resting her hand on her own cheek. Her mischievous expression falls away to reveal something more doting, more motherly. “Come on, lemme make you a Mokushu Mule and you can tell me all about your time at college and all the hot guys you’ve met, and how many you’ve- y’know.” She waggles her eyebrows as she motions towards the bar, but Hayato looks perfectly scandalized.

“But Orochi, he doesn’t-”  
  
“Shh, Takumi is family.”

“But-”

“Nope, quiet, I don’t want to hear anything more from you about this.”

* * *

“Oooooo, a crush on your roommate! How romantic!” Takumi had only lasted half a Mokushu Mule before he spilled that one. Now he was in serious trouble, because Orochi’s closing in, and she won’t let it go until she knows the whole story. “Tell me more, tell me more!” She demands, but Takumi doesn’t have anything more to say about it, so he takes another sip from his drink and pouts. Orochi seems to understand him though, because she pouts along with him.

“You think he’s straight, huh?” She asks, and Takumi nods, angrily taking another swig. The burn of the alcohol is enough to make his eyes water minutely.

“He’s got a crush on this girl, and I’m mad about it.” He says finally. Orochi raises an eyebrow.

“Is she a bitch or something?” Setsuna asks from his side, but Takumi groans.

“No! That’s what makes me the angriest!” He grumbles against the lid of his cup. He contemplates slow swigs, but relents and just downs the rest angrily. The alcohol burns his throat and his cheeks heat up as he slams the copper cup against the bar counter. The sound is loud enough to startle some of the gamers away from their games, but Takumi doesn’t care, he’s angry, not at Felicia but at himself. Setsuna and Orochi are both staring at him worriedly, but the alcohol is fogging his brain too much for him to care. “She actually seems super nice and sweet and it makes hating her guts so. Damn. Hard!”

There’s a puff of smoke from behind Setsuna, and weird laugh pipes up. “He sounds like he’s jealous.” Someone says, and Takumi leans over the bar slightly to squint at whoever said that.

It’s Azama. Of course, Azama said that, and Takumi realizes, albeit slowly, and the weedbrain was actually right. Takumi’s been jealous of Felicia since the first time he saw her sitting in his chair.

Orochi frowns at Azama. “Hey, no smoking in the establishment. If you wanna smoke, go sit outside.”

* * *

“Here.” Orochi takes his copper cup from it’s resting place in front of him. He briefly hears the clink of metal against metal before Orochi sets a small plastic cup in front of him. “Drink that. I don’t want to be the one responsible for any headaches you have later.” A glint of light catches Takumi’s eye, and he sits, transfixed, as he watches Orochi make another drink.

There’s a ring on her finger that he hadn’t noticed earlier. A rounded white gem, circled in a ringlet of gold sits prettily on her left hand. Takumi stares at it, only blinking away as Orochi sets another drink in front of him.

She must have seen him staring, because she smiles, holding up her hand for Takumi to see. “Pretty, isn’t it?” She twists it around her finger some, and Takumi smiles. She looks so happy, and he’s happy for her. “It’s opal. Nyx proposed a couple weeks ago.” She smiles softly, and Takumi thinks that she must be reminiscing, replaying such happy memories.

“Congratulations!” He says, nursing his second cup carefully. “That’s, uh, that’s awesome!”

Orochi laughs, reaching over the counter to ruffle his hair. “Thanks kiddo. Wedding’s in December if you wanna come.” She rests her chin on her hand once more, as her smile turns dopey. “Gods, I can’t wait to marry the shit out of her.”

Takumi’s about to say something along the lines of ‘I’ll check my schedule and get back to you, but let’s be real: I’m coming even if I have prior arrangements.’, but he suddenly realizes that he's not sure how they met. “You guys were rivals in college, right?" He asks. "You never told me how you started dating.” Orochi’s love struck sigh wracks her whole frame as she visibly melts.

“She used to run a medicinal herb stand at campus market on the weekends, with the most vibrant orange calendulas I’ve ever seen.”

“Translation please?” Takumi said, and Orochi pouted, jutting out her bottom lip.

“She sold flowers for medicine. And they were _very_ pretty.” Orochi hisses,

“Yeah, but how did you buying things from her evolve into you dating her.”

“It was a slow progression I guess, but she eventually started giving me discounts, then full on free stuff. I guess we both started crushing on each other, and then one day I brought her a bouquet of echinaceas to ask her out and she said yes.” Orochi shrugged. “I guess the rest is history.”

Takumi raised an eyebrow. “Echinaceas? Translation?” Orochi sighed happily at the memory.

“Echinaceas are coneflowers. Super pretty, purple flowers if you ask me.” Her dopey grin was back, eyes half lidded in contentedness. “They highlighted her eyes perfectly.”

“Talking about me again, darling?” Came a voice from behind the counter, and both Orochi and Takumi looked over to see Nyx resting her chin against the end of the bar. She yawned once, and Orochi frowned, eyebrows knitting together in concern.

“What are you doing up Nyxie-poo? Don’t you have to work tomorrow?” Orochi asked, but Nyx just shrugged.

“It was hard to sleep without you.”

Orochi softened up immediately. “I’m sorry dear, just three more minutes in my shift, then Subaki’s coming in to cover for me.” And suddenly her mischievous grin came back, and Takumi inwardly panics. “But get this- Takumi’s got a crush on his room-” Takumi slaps a hand over her mouth before she can continue, cheeks burning.

“Orochi!” He hisses, but Nyx just raises an eyebrow, looking between Orochi and Takumi.

“Roommate?” She asks, and Takumi deflates a little. But Nyx, like the literal fucking mind reader she is, makes it worse by saying, “Straight roommate?”

“Please don’t remind me, I’m drinking to forget…” Takumi slumps back into the barstool, taking another sip from his second Mokushu Mule.

Nyx is quiet for a moment, tapping a finger on her chin in thought. “Are you sure he’s straight? He could be bi or pan.”

And, to be quite honest, that thought never occurred to Takumi. When he factors in Leo’s reactions to Hero-King Marth and how interested he was to learn that the Hero-King was most likely bisexual, the whole thing seems to make perfect sense. It certainly wasn’t a perfect explanation, but it was an explanation.

“Didn’t think about that, huh?” Nyx asks, and she reaches over to pat his hand reassuringly. “You’re such a pessimist that it’s putting me to shame.” She took a small glass out from behind the counter and filled it with water, taking a couple of small sips. Then, she pointed at Takumi. “Don’t lose hope yet. You could always be his ‘gay awakening’.” Nyx said, before she pulled Orochi down to kiss her cheek softly. Nyx took a moment to whisper in her fiance's ear, but Takumi missed the blush that tainted Orochi’s cheeks because he was too busy staring into his own cup.

Takumi blinked, swirling the alcohol around the edge idly. He hadn’t thought about that either.

When he finally looks up from his cup, Nyx has disappeared up the stairs. Orochi stares longingly at where her fiance had gone, a content smile pulling at her lips once more. “I’m so in love.”

Takumi couldn’t help but snort. “I’ve noticed. I think everyone within 500 feet has noticed.”

A low chuckle rang out behind him, and Takumi flips his barstool around, almost coming face to chest with a smirking Subaki. It takes him a moment, but once he tilts his eyes up, he knows he’s done for. “I know I certainly have.” Subaki says, and the look on his face is enough to get the blood rushing to Takumi’s cheeks. The expression itself was a mix of Subaki’s trademarked seduction and his amusement, and he looks away again.

“Finally.” Orochi sighs, quickly relieving herself of her apron and placing it on the counter before her. “She’s all yours, Subaki.” Takumi hears her pat the counter.

His hair is perfect, as it has always been. His skin is clear and almost luminescent, and the way his shirt hugs his body leaves little to Takumi’s imagination. Once his eyes make their way up his chest and to his face, he is surprised to see that Subaki is matching his gaze. He can’t tear his eyes away. His eyeliner is flawless, and the mascara makes his eyes pop much like they had the first time they’d met in high school.

He’s so transfixed on meeting Subaki’s gaze that he doesn’t notice Orochi sidling up until her arms are around his neck. “I’m going to bed.” She says to him, tucking his head into the crook of her neck. “I’m sooooo tired.”

“Then go. You got somebody waiting for you.” Takumi can feel Orochi sigh into him hair as he reaches up with one arm to hug her back. He pats her arm once, and she releases his shoulders before pressing a wet kiss to his cheek.

“Tell Mikoto I said hi, alright?” Orochi’s words are slurring with tiredness, but ruffles his hair nonetheless. He can hear her drag her feet as she turns away towards the stairs, but Subaki dominates his gaze. Now it feels like it’s only Subaki and Takumi. He can barely hear everyone else in the barcade. The alcohol makes him feel like he’s floating.

“You didn’t tell me you were back in town.” Subaki says, reaching forward to take the copper cup from him, but the moment their hands touch, Takumi is grounded. The floating feeling is gone, replaced with heated cheeks and some sinking feeling that’s buried deep in his stomach.

He turns his barstool around, hiding his face from Subaki’s prying eyes with his bangs. “I just got back.” And he says no more. He can hear his heartbeat in his ears as Subaki stalks around the side of the bar. His eyes seem to bore holes in the counter in front of him.

There’s a clang from the counter, his empty copper cup, the sound of fabric rustling, glasses knocking together, and, finally, his copper cup appears before him once again, full and still swirling.

His bangs are brushed to the side with featherlight touches, like Subaki is afraid he’s going to bolt at any second. If he were sober, fully sober, he probably would’ve, and he knows somewhere, deep down in his mind, that this is wrong on so many levels, but he can’t bring himself to care.

“You shouldn’t hide your pretty face like that.” Subaki whispers, and even though Takumi can hardly hear it through the noise of arcade games and rambunctious, drunken laughter, his face heats up beyond compare. A single wink and his whole entire being lights itself on fire.

“Shut up, Su.” He barely manages to mutter, taking a sip from his third drink, and Subaki frowns. But Takumi can’t bring himself to care, and Subaki’s frown is quickly replaced by another smirk. Takumi has to fight the urge to roll his eyes.

“Y’know,” Subaki starts, leaning over the bar to tilt Takumi’s chin up with a single finger. “My bed is always open for you, if you would still have me.”

Takumi’s glare must take him off guard, because Subaki looks confused when he knocks his hand away. “Not fucking likely considering I’m not a dumb high schooler anymore.” Takumi growls through gritted teeth. He slams his copper cup onto the counter with an icy glare, one that Subaki meets with knitted brows and a sad smile.

He looks so… well, disappointed is the only word that Takumi’s drunk brain can come up with, but he’ll be damned if he stays in Subaki’s presence longer than he needs to.

So he leaves his cup on the counter and turns on his heel, exiting the way he came. He tries his best to ignore the feeling of eyes roaming his back, but he knows deep down, that that’s not the last he’s seen of Subaki

* * *

He spends another hour sitting at the picnic tables outside the bar, catching up with Azama and Setsuna and listening to all the hometown gossip. But once the light of the morning breaks through the darkness of the night, he says his goodbyes.

The sun will be rising in a couple minutes, and there's nothing he loved more than to watch Hoshidan sunrises. There was a bench in a park not far from downtown, one that sits on the shore of a pond that he used to swim in with his family when he was still a kid. It looks to the east and towards the range of mountains that separates Hoshido from the rest of the continent, and the purples and pink dance vibrantly off the peaks.

So he made his way to the park and quickly as he could, but once he finally made it there, he was dismayed to find someone else had gotten there before him. But he knew that long, dark hair instantly, and smiled to himself.

“Hey Oboro, what are you doing out here so early?” Takumi said as he sat on the bench next to Oboro, but her only reaction was a small grunt of acknowledgement. A couple moments of silence passed, and the sun began to rise above the horizon in the east. Oboro audibly cleared her throat afterwards, and Takumi turned to look at her.

“I feel icky, Takumi. Like, super gross.” She said, arms crossed over her chest, face hidden beneath her hair.

“Are you okay? Do you need a hug?” Takumi asked as he stretched his arm over the top of the bench in an invitation. Oboro looked miserable, and on the verge of crying.

Tears finally trailed down her face when Takumi’s arm made contact with her shoulders. “Thanks.” Her voice cracked when she spoke, and Takumi nodded, wrapping his arm tightly around Oboro.

Oboro buried her face in the crook of Takumi’s neck, taking a shaky sigh as she wrapped her arm around Takumi’s midsection. “Thank you..”

“You don’t have to thank me.”

The sunrise was just as beautiful as ever, and the warmth of the sun feels wonderful on his face, He’s pretty sure Oboro has fallen asleep on his shoulder, if the snores mean anything, but he doesn’t mind. It’s nice to have a moment to himself after the crazy last three hours.

At least, he thinks it’s been three hours. He takes his phone from his pocket to check the time, only to be surprised to see that he’s got one unread message.

 

> **leo astarot (6:32 AM): sorry**

Takumi doesn’t know what he’s sorry for, why he’s texting him sorry, and, most importantly, why he’s awake at 6 o’clock in the morning. He’s about to ask Leo why, but Oboro snores so hard that she wakes herself up, and Takumi pockets his phone as quickly as he can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh boy this is so late. i wanted this done in oct but school just got away from me, so have this. i'm pretty sure its pretty eh, but at least its done so i can move on to hinoka.
> 
> lots of realizations and shit, and you best believe im gonna write the shit outta that awesome wedding, so be prepared for that in, uh, 100k words probably idk 
> 
> once again, kudos, comments, and bookmarks are all loved and appreciated with all my heart <3


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